
Class 

Book I __ 

GoR/rigtaN?. 



COPVRIGHT DEPOSrr. 



WAGE WORTH OF SCHOOL TRAINING 

AN ANALYTICAL STUDY OF 

SIX HUNDRED WOMEN-WORKERS 

IN TEXTILE FACTORIES 



ANNA CHARLOTTE HEDGES, Ph.D. 



TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO EDUCATION, No. 70 



PUBLISHED BY 

tEeacfjerS College, Columbia ©nifaertitp 
NEW YORK CITY 

1915 
Monograph 






Copyright 1915 

By 

ANNA C. HEDGES 



AUG 19 1915 

©CI.A4UM31 



Mental Dexterity is readiness in the ordering of 
thought and words. 

Manual Dexterity is expertness in the manipu- 
lation of materials and tools. 

Skill is expertness specially applied with speed 
and accuracy. 



PREFACE 

This inquiry involved seeing twenty thousand girls at work, 
conferring in detail with foremen, forewomen, and managers, 
questioning several hundred girls themselves, and making an 
exhaustive study of 617 questionnaires. 

The resultant conclusions may be summarized as follows: 

1. Schools instruct girls without reference to discovering and 
training progressive wage-earning ability. 

2. Training in specific process operations can be given best 
and most adequately by the management itself in the factory. 

3. Work will be most remunerative to the girl who enters the 
industrial world from the school, able-bodied, industrious, right- 
minded, trained in dexterity and in the correct meaning and use 
of the English language. 

4. Cooperation is necessary between the two great factors in 
the general education of all wage-earners, i. e., the School and 
Industry. By cooperation, the school can continue the training 
of the girl whose economic needs unfortunately have shortened 
her school life, and aid in this continued training of the wage- 
earner should be afforded by releasing her from work during the 
day for part time at full pay. 

5. Public interest is required to promote this cooperation 
between Industry and the School. Interest can be aroused 
mainly through demonstrating the economic worth of school 
training by adopting school methods freed from scholastic 
symbolism and rich in experience of problems involving tools, 
materials and processes. 

6. The School System should include among its definite and 
expressed aims the training of every child without exception in 
ability to earn by producing. 

7. As a practical means of effecting cooperation, day-time 
school work conducted by the Public School in the Factory may 
properly be introduced for unschooled wage earners: In the 
factory because thus factory wage earning is given just recogni- 
tion by the Public School and as an aid in counteracting sweat- 
shop employment; by the Public School because as a public and 



vi Preface 

hence non-partisan institution, confidence is inspired in those 
who thus gain training necessary to citizenship in a democracy. 

8. This schooling should be planned, first, to remove illit- 
eracy, the prevalence of which in an English-speaking land, 
largely and constantly recruited by foreign-speaking people, is 
a menace to industrial peace; second, to instruct in the essential 
laws and practices of hygiene; third, to use instruction in English 
as a means to bring about adequate understanding of business 
ethics and individual responsibilities. 

The author wishes to acknowledge the uniform courtesy of the 
management of the thirty plants visited; the able, helpful criticism 
of Frederick G. Bonser, Ph.D., professor of Industrial Arts 
Teachers College, Columbia University, in whose department this 
work was written; the many introductions to manufacturers, 
which opened the door to the Inquiry, given by Mr. and Mrs. 
Nathaniel Myers of New York City; the scholarly editing of the 
text and constructive criticism relating to industrial matters 
by Winthrop Talbot, M.D., Editor of Human Engineering. 

The original data, from which the calculations in this Inquiry 
were made, are on reference and obtainable by any interested 
person at the Industrial Arts Department of Teachers College, 
Columbia University, New York City. 

A. C. H. 



CONTENTS 

Foreword by Arthur D. Dean xiii 

I. Training Girls for Wage-Earning 1 

II. Requirements of Work on the Worker 4 

Health. — Mental Poise. — Individualism and Cooperation. — Tech- 
nical Information. — Mechanical Skill. 

III. School Requirements 13 

IV. Needs of the Factort Wage-Earner 16 

Revision of School Methods. — Dexterity and Skill. — Training in 
English. — Cooperative Play. Opportunity of the Public School. — 
Illiterates. 

V. Method of the Inquiry 25 

Chief Apparent Factors. — Field of Inquiry. — Working Plan. — 
Questions Put to Managers. — Questionnaire for Women Workers. — 
Replies. 

VI. Statistical Procedure 33 

Coefficient of Correlation. — Nativity. — Length of Service. — Per- 
centage Calculations. — Wage Index: Experience Index: Age Index. — 
Terms of Comparative Value: Medians, Modes, Averages, etc. 

VII. Need for Data 38 

GENERAL GROUP 

I. Training for Hand and Machine Work 45 

II. Age of Workers 48 

III. Number of Years in School 50 

IV. Grade at Leaving School 51 

V. Age at Leaving School 52 

VI. Marriage among Workers 54 

VII. The Workers and Their Work 55 

How Work Was Obtained. — Present Occupation. — Apprentice 
Wage. — Days Learning Present Occupation. — Medians, Averages, 
Modes of Apprentice Days. — Years at Present Work. — Present 
Average Wage. — Number and Percentage of Workers at Each Wage. 
Summary of Wage, Age, and Experience Replies. — Other Positions. 
— Nationality. 

SCHOOL HISTORY GROUP 

I. School History Group 99 

Indices Defined. — Coefficients of Correlation. — Methods of Group- 
ing.— Seasonal Occupations. — Factors Influencing Length of Service. 
— School Groups of Workers by Percentages Comparing Number^ 
Earnings, Experience. — Slow Progress Group Wage, Experience 
Curves. — Over-Age Group, Experience Curve. — Rapid Progress 
Group Wage and Experience Curve. — Under-Age Group. — General 
Results. 



viii Contents 

II. Wage and Experience Indices Compared According to Na- 
tivity and Number of Years at School 135 

III. Wage and Experience Indices Compared by Nativity and Age 

at Leaving School 145 

IV. Wage and Experience Indices Compared by Nativity and 
Grade at Leaving School 149 

V. Wage and Experience Indices Compared by Nativity and Wage 153 

VI. Age-Grade and School Progress Groups According to 
Nativity and Indices 156 

Appendix 163 

Helpful Bibliography 174 



TABLES 

I. Girls' Nativity and Parents' Nationality 45 

II. Previous Hand and Machine Training of Workers at Home 

or School 46 

III. Age of Workers 48 

IV. Number of Years in School 50 

V. Grade at Leaving School 51 

VI. Age at Leaving School 52 

VII. Range of Age of Workers by Present Wage, Medians, Modes, 

Averages, Middle 50 Per Cent — 617 Records 53 

VIII. Marriage among Workers 54 

IX. How Work Was Obtained 55 

X. Present Occupation— 542 Records 55 

XI. Apprentice Wage 57 

XII. Days Learning Present Operation — 516 Records 59 

XIII. Medians, Averages, Modes of Apprentice Days — 513 Rec- 

ords 63 

XIV. Years at Present Work 64 

XV. Medians, Modes, Averages, Middle Fifty Per Cent, Range 

of Years at Present Work by Wage 66 

XVI. Present Average Wage per Week 68 

XVII. Number and Percentage of Workers at Each Wage 70 

XVIII. Number of Workers, Their Earnings. Per Cent of Total, 

and Resultant Wage Index — 605 Records 71 

XIX. Number of Workers, Aggregate Years at Present Work and 

Experience Index by Three Wage Groups — 605 Records 72 
XX. Number of Workers, Aggregate Age, Percentage of Totals 
and Resultant Age Index by Three Wage Groups — 605 

Records 73 

XXIa. Comparison in Percentages of Number of Workers, Earn- 
ings, Experience and Age by Three Wage Groups with 

Resultant Wage-Experience and Wage-Age Ratios 74 

XXIb. Averages of Wage, Experience, Age 74 

XXII. Comparison of Modes, Averages, Medians, Middle 50 Per 
Cent of Weekly Wage, Experience, Age of Workers by 
Wage Groups — 605 Records 75 

XXIII. Other Work with the Same Firm 77 

XXIV. Days Learning Other Occupation 78 

XXV. Average Wage while Learning Other Operation 78 

XXVI. Work Previous to that with the Present Employer 78 

XXVII. Reason for Changing Position 79 

XXVIII. Length of Service in Previous Position 80 

XXIX. Average Wage in Previous Position 81 

XXX. Length of Service with Other Firms 82 

XXXI. Number of Workers, Earnings and Years at Present Work 
by Nativity of Workers and Parents' Nationality — 557 

Records 83 

XXXII. Average Wage and Years at Present Work and Resultant 
Wage-Experience Index by Nativity and Parents' Na- 
tionality — 557 Records 84 



Tables 



XXXIII. Percentages of Workers, Earnings, and Years at Present 

Work by Nativity of Workers and Parents' Nationality 
— 557 Records 87 

XXXIV. Indices of Wage, Experience, and Wage-Experience Ratio 

by Nativity of Workers and Parents' Nationality — 557 

Records 88 

XXXV. Averages, Modes, Medians, Middle 50 Per Cent and Range 
of Wage and Years at Present Work by Nativity and 

Parents' Nationality — 557 Records 92 

XXXVI. Number of Workers, Wage, Years at Present Work by 
Nativity, Years in School, Grade at Leaving School — 515 

Records insert 100 

XXXVII. Number of Workers, Weekly Earnings, Years at Present 
Work by Nativity and Age and Grade at Leaving School — 

515 Records insert 102 

XXXVIII. Wage-Earning Record Compared, of Those with Same School 

History 102 

XXXIX. Wage and School History of Workers 17 Years of Age and 

2 Years at Present Work 103 

XL. Number and Per Cent of Workers at Each Year of Age, 

Wage, and Years at Present Work — 515 Records 105 

XLI. Amounts and Percentages of Workers, Earnings, Years at 
Present Work by Nativity and Years at School — 515 

Records 110 

XLII. Medians, Modes, Averages, Middle 50 Per Cent of Weekly 
Wage and Years at Present Work According to Age and 

Grade at Leaving School — 515 Records 122 

XLIII. Medians, Modes, Averages, Middle 50 Per Cent of Weekly 
Wage and Years at Present Work According to School 

Progress — 515 Records 124 

XLIV. Wage Experience Indices and Wage-Experience Ratio — 515 

Records 138 



CHARTS 

1. Percentage of Workers at Each Age — 617 Records 49 

2. Curve of Apprentice Days at Present Operation — 516 Records 59 

3. Percentage of Workers at Each Year at Present Work — 605 Records 65 

4. Years at Present Work — 605 Records 67 

5. Percentage of Workers at Each Wage — 617 Records 69 

6. Percentage of Workers at Each Dollar Wage — 617 Records 71 

7. Percentage of Number of Workers, Earnings, Years at Present Work 

compared according to Nativity of Workers and Parents' Na- 
tionality— 557 Records facing 91 

8. Indices of Wage, Experience, Wage-Experience Ratio, Comparing 

Nativity and Parents' Nationality — 557 Records 95 

9. Percentage of Workers at Each Wage — 515 School History Records. . 106 

10. Percentage of Workers at Each Year of Age — 515 Records 108 

11. Percentage of Workers at Each Year at Present Work — 515 Records 114 

12. Years in School; Age at Leaving School — 515 Records 116 

13. Grade at Leaving; Average Wage 118 

14. Quartiles of Earnings, Experience, and Age of Workers Compared — 

515 Records facing 121 

15. Medians, Modes, Averages of Wage and Experience, according to 

School Progress and Age-Grade Groups — 515 Records 126 

16. Medians, Modes, Averages, of Wage and Experience according to 

School Progress and Age-Grade Groups — 515 Records 128 

17. Medians, Modes, Averages, of Wage and Experience according to 

School Progress and Age Grade Groups — 515 Records 130 

18. Medians, Modes, Averages of Wage and Experience according to 

School Progress and Age-Grade Groups — 515 Records 133 

19. Nativity and Number of Years in School Compared by Means of Wage 

and Experience Indices 136 

20. Nativity and Age at Leaving School Compared by Means of Wage and 

Experience Indices 144 

21. Nativity and Grade at Leaving School Compared by Means of Wage 

and Experience Indices 148 

22. Nativity and Wage in Dollars Compared by Means of Wage and 

Experience Indices 152 

23. Age-Grade and School Progress as Groups according to Nativity and 

Indices 155 



FOREWORD 

A Foreword may or may not have value. As a note of intro- 
duction the bearer of it may receive attention because thus 
endorsed. After the bow, the bearer must make her own way. 
This, I believe, the author of this book will do admirably. 

One may have been through the public schools, college and 
university, obtaining certificates, diplomas and advanced degrees, 
without having obtained much proficiency apart from academic 
recognition. I recall the remark of a prominent educator in 
seeking someone to administer an important educational move- 
ment in his state — "I am looking for an educated man for this 
work; all the fellows I have seen have had plenty of schooling but 
not enough education." Miss Hedges has had an education, and 
in recalling her record as a student and teacher I am reminded of 
the feelings of that old salt and man-of-war's man "Old Rogers" 
as related in George MacDonald's "Annals of a Quiet Neighbor- 
hood," who, in talking to the new vicar of Marshmellows, indulges 
in this homely philosophy: "I ain't a bit afraid of a parson. No, 
I love a parson, sir. And I'll tell you why, sir. He's got a good 
telescope and he gets into the masthead, and he looks out. And 
he sings out Land ahead ! or Breakers ahead ! and gives directions 
accordin'. Only I can't always make out what he says. But 
when he shuts up his spyglass and comes down the riggin' and 
talks to us like one man to another, then I don't know what I 
should do without the parson." 

Now Miss Hedges "comes down the riggin'" and gives us her 
viewpoint. It is here that her work counts. The background 
of experience speaks — her years as a teacher of girls, both before 
they entered industry and after they had worked for a number of 
years; her knowledge gained through direct contact with in- 
dustry; her thought upon those larger questions of the relation 
of the work of women to the social, economic and political 
development of womanhood. 

Miss Hedges holds the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from 
Columbia University; since the age of seventeen has been a wholly 
self-supporting wage-earner through her own highly disciplined 



xiv Foreword 

skill in fine arts and handicrafts; has had many years of public 
school experience as a teacher; was Director of Household Arts at 
Pratt Institute, Brooklyn; long was the Director of the Hebrew 
Technical School for Girls in New York City; possesses practical 
experience as a factory investigator in eastern industries employ- 
ing girls and mature women workers, and wrote this book while 
serving in an advisory capacity in the organization of the 
Cooperative Class for Adult Workers in New York City about 
which we read so much in the metropolitan press during the 
spring of 1913. 

I have no fear that I am over-emphasizing the necessity for 
rich backgrounds and fine perspectives for those who are giving 
thought to educational movements. At no time have they been 
more needed than at present. We are placing tremendous 
emphasis on the teacher's technique. We are too much concerned 
with the mere tools which we use in our work. We discuss, with 
infinite detail, courses of study, programs, equipments and text- 
books. We ought to take it for granted that educators have 
ability to handle the tools, that they can devise fearfully and 
wonderfully made tables of statistics, and make up charts and 
curves. 

But to what may it all amount? What does the person bring 
to the work out of her own personal and professional life; how does 
she line up this experience with that of the race; how does she 
adjust the traditional to the forward movement so necessary; 
what is the road and where are its turnings? A candidate for an 
advanced degree who brings a rich background on which to paint 
her educational study has an advantage over the immature stu- 
dent who passes from grade school to high school, to college, to 
university, without a break. 

But what of perspective or vision? Miss Hedges brings this, it 
seems to me, to this study. She sees, as you and I must see, the 
picture of these girl workers and mature workers who need school- 
ing, nourishing food, strong heritages — a picture oftentimes of 
the waste of human wealth; yet oftentimes the bright glow of life 
from individual cases will almost blind one's eyes to the darker 
spots; a picture which, taken altogether, makes us feel that there 
are no bounds to the moral, mental and spiritual capabilities 
which unfold under the best civic, industrial and educational 
conditions. Truly a vision worthy of any canvas! 



Foreword xv 

I know that the author has such a vision. And I trust in the 
painting of it that she fares better than the artist who painted a 
great picture which many came to see. 

"Wonderful!" they exclaimed. "So clever! So original! 
What perfect drawing! And the coloring — so strong and yet so 
full of atmosphere!" 

A friend, meeting the artist, congratulated him on winning such 
appreciation. 

"Appreciation!" repeated the artist, bitterly. "I painted a 
vision, a message. And they praise — my technique." 

Her technique has my respect and will win that of most educa- 
tors. Some may condemn it. She may have failed to develop 
the right "median," or neglected to analyze a sufficient "number 
of cases," or forgotten to consider all the "factors." To such I 
would suggest that the message is more important than details 
involved in its discovery; that the need and the remedy are 
greater than the clinical record. 

Let us hold to the fact that women are working; bearing the 
rightful responsibility of self-support; doing their daily tasks 
hopefully or hopelessly as the case may be; obeying cheerfully or 
unwillingly the mandates of industry; meeting successfully or 
unsuccessfully the requirements of trade and industry in propor- 
tion as they are fitted physically, mentally and spiritually for the 
task at hand. 

Let us look squarely at the issues involved. Miss Hedges has 
treated but one industry and that only partially. There are 
economic, social and educational problems with which she has 
not concerned herself. But we — you and I, are concerned with 
the whole question of woman's work and her fitness for it, physi- 
cally, socially and educationally. Yet Miss Hedges has made an 
important contribution to the whole question. Undoubtedly our 
schools are instructing girls without reference to discovering and 
training adequately for progressive wage-earning ability. Un- 
doubtedly, many specific manufacturing processes proposed as 
being proper for the public school to teach belong absolutely to 
private enterprise to conduct. Undoubtedly the school and the 
industry must cooperate. They can best serve themselves and 
each other by developing helpful relationships. Undoubtedly 
many women and girl workers need instruction in the essentials 
of personal hygiene more than they need greater hand skill ; more 



xvi Foreword 

need instruction in reading than in mill arithmetic; more need 
general intelligence rather than specific technical training. There 
is still room for other opinions based upon other studies in other 
industries. 

The main point being, in my opinion, to keep constantly before 
us the fact that we are only at the beginning of a new conception 
of woman and her work. She has been a long time in coming 
into her own. And we want her educated. We want these 
factory girl-workers educated. We want all to be masters of 
themselves and masters of their jobs; each to be master. Master 
of herself in the sense that she must know of her possibilities as 
a woman of splendid health, personal power, and genuine poise; 
master of her job only as she is fitted for a God-given motherhood, 
a community-given vocation, and a state-given citizenship. 

Arthur D. Dean. 
Albany, N. Y., 
September, 1914. 



WAGE WORTH OF SCHOOL TRAINING 



I 



TRAINING GIRLS FOR WAGE-EARNING 

Training girls for wage-earning has always been secondary to 
training boys for wage-earning. The brief wage career of the 
majority of women and the more generally unskilled work open 
to them are much used arguments which largely explain lack of 
interest on the part of educators and business managers in the 
training of girls. 

Necessitated wage-earning before and often after marriage 
has become as vital to most women as to most men, and is be- 
coming increasingly so to managers, because women wage- 
earners have distinctive contributing power in the world of 
production. This has been demonstrated and acknowledged in 
every field entered by them. Each census 1 shows the encourage- 
ment given to women workers by increasing numbers in new 
lines of employment opened to them. This contribution of 
working power is of vast economic importance if developed and 
rightly applied by the worker herself and utilized justly by 
Industry. 

Men are aided by preparatory and additional schooling in 
industrial classes, by the urge of family responsibility, and by 
the general public sentiment that men must and shall be the 
best possible wage-earners. Women are hindered by lack of pre- 
paratory training in school and industry, by public sentiment 



Females, 10 Years of Age and Older, Engaged in Gainful Occupations 
Compared with Total Female Population, 10 Years of Age and Older 



Census 
Year 


Total Female Population 
10 Years and Older 


Females in Gainful 
Occupations 


%OF 

Total 


1910 

1900 

1890 

1880 


34,552,712 
28,246,384 
23,060,900 
18,025,627 


8,075,772 
5,319,197 
4,005,532 
2,647,157 


23.4 
18.8 
17.4 
14.7 



2 Wage Worth of School Training 

unfavorable to their entering the wage-earning sphere, by non- 
recognition of the fact of dependence of others upon them. The 
urge of economic pressure has been almost if not quite as great 
on women as on men. 

But the light of fairness is beginning to shine on women as 
wage-earners; interest is growing in their needs as industrial 
producers; and leaders among women themselves are giving 
earnest thought to the educational preparation of women workers, 
and to work conditions requisite to maintain the highest level of 
wage-earning power among women. 

In the educational field, this thought found expression in the 
advocating and establishment of trade schools for girls and in 
introducing practical work in conjunction with general school 
studies. This movement followed the example set by a similar 
one for boys. Training boys to become carpenters, pattern- 
makers, machinists, printers, electricians, is paralleled by train- 
ing girls to become dressmakers, seamstresses, milliners, designers, 
and housekeepers. 

The function of such trade preparatory schools, both for boys 
and for girls, is expressed in the very name "Trade Preparatory 
Schools." They prepare for the few trades as such which have 
survived from a period when trades were the prevailing mode 
of industrial organization. The present mode of organization 
in industrial centers increasingly requires operatives with skill — 
meaning speed and accuracy with ability to transfer readily to 
a closely related line. Trades as such, in which the worker's 
chance to progress in industry is increased by knowledge of 
accepted practice in all the steps of the trade, are rapidly dis- 
appearing. Operative work is everywhere on the increase. 
Industries are becoming highly specialized, and operations by 
which the product is made are simplified by subdivision of work 
to obtain the maximum of speed and thus of output. Operative 
work is the means for wage-earning of the majority of boys and 
girls alike who leave our grammar schools. Trade schools plan 
to take care only of the favored few who are still able to find 
work at trades. With these special trade lines, this inquiry is 
not concerned. 

The interest of this inquiry centers in the large numbers of 
girls who are forced early into the factory wage-earning world 
by economic pressure, mental simplicity, ignorance as to the advan- 






Training Girls for Wage Earning 3 

tages of longer schooling, or lack of desire to continue in school. 
This inquiry aimed to learn the amount of schooling of women 
wage-earners who drift into textile factories; to discover, if 
possible, how this schooling is related to their present wage and 
experience at their present work; to trace the factor of nation- 
ality in wage worth; and to study the work requirements made 
of women workers by the textile industry. 

The data presented in the following pages were obtained from 
the workers themselves in the factories, supplemented by fore- 
men, forewomen, and factory managers. The inquiry was con- 
ducted with the frankly expressed desire, to gain first-hand and 
authoritative information for intelligent promotion of industrial 
training of girls for higher and more progressive wage earning. 

A result of the inquiry has been to turn the inquirer from her 
prior position as an advocate of Trade Training for girls whose 
schooling must be limited to the grammar school, to the viewpoint 
of More and Better General Education for all grammar school girls, 
irrespective of their career beyond the elementary school. By more 
and better general education is meant acquaintance with the 
meaning and use of English words; knowledge of how to keep 
well; ability to control thought and action; dexterity in the 
use of tools and materials, in the preparation of foods and the 
making of clothes, and familiarity with processes required in 
the care of garden and house. 

Before the days of excessive concentration in cities and the 
factory demand for hands, such training was given by school 
and home combined. Schools are now called upon to counteract 
the effect on the individual of the subdivision of work by an 
emphatic generalizing in education. School training for specific 
operations is not necessary, for these operations are simple and 
can be learned in a few days or weeks at most in the factory 
itself. But the applicant for work must have a foundation in 
good health, in comprehension of English, in dexterity, and in 
sound work ideals, all of which will mean adaptability, industri- 
ous habits and the desire and ability to cooperate. On this basis, 
productive, progressive, and wage-earning work depends, whether 
it be in the factory, office, college, on the farm or in the home. 
Training of boys and girls alike in these essentials devolves on 
the elementary school. 



II 

REQUIREMENTS OF WORK ON THE WORKER 
Health 

The element seemingly essential to employment in the needle 
trades as in all wage earning is Health. Only an able-bodied 
woman can be regular in her employment and maintain a degree 
of output which will secure her a permanent place in the body of 
workers. Those whose record for attendance is irregular are 
among the first to be laid off in slack seasons, and the evils of 
such unemployment are too well known to be recounted here. 

With health, there should be also information on the essentials 
of maintaining health which will result in a control of the body, 
and a permanent foundation for health. Many of the workers 
are endowed with splendid physique, but if their home education 
and the school, combined or singly, have not taught them how 
to treat themselves as human mechanisms, this physical endow- 
ment will not long endure under the strain which industrial 
life brings upon its women workers. 

The argument that this strain should be relaxed, in order not 
to injure the health of the workers, is substantial, but is one- 
sided if the worker likewise is..not prepared to so manage her 
life and its activities outside of working hours, as well as during 
them, that she can do her share toward meeting the responsi- 
bilities which life has brought upon her as a wage-earner. Con- 
ditions in a factory may be all that can be desired as to light, 
ventilation, physical comforts and other necessary requirements 
for good work conditions; but, if the worker, through ignorance 
or indifference, abuses her natural physical endowment by late 
hours, insufficient sleep, excessive dancing, poorly selected food, 
and bad ventilation at home and in the bedroom, the manager 
alone cannot be held responsible for decline in the health of this 
worker. Indeed it is a common argument with managers that 
it is not work which injures the workers' health, so much as what 
is done outside of work hours. 

All work conditions are not what they should be; neither are 
all workers in good physical condition when applying for positions. 

4 



Requirements of Work on the Worker 5 

Neither party to employment can be made wholly responsible 
for an imperfect result of contract, unless each is prepared to 
meet his obligations. 

Mental Poise 

A function which the school can meet and should meet is that 
of training the girl to take care of herself in and out of work 
hours and to know why she should. When the health of the 
worker is consciously maintained, there will result a mental 
poise which she needs in her work. The routine of the work day 
may most unexpectedly be interrupted by requirements for 
this mental poise which, when exercised by the worker, will give 
her an increased earning power, and secure her notice and regard 
for all her working life. Emergencies are sure to occur where 
so many are gathered together, not only in social contact among 
the workers, but on the mechanical side. 

Rising to emergencies may mean safety not only for the indi- 
vidual, but perhaps for the whole group concerned. Aside 
from emergencies, the maintaining of a steady pace upon which 
wage-earning ability is gauged, is a matter of poise. From 
poise or nerve control grow the mental attitude and habits of 
the worker. Trouble-makers and complainers are apt to be 
such because of poor health, either physically or mentally. 
The worker with abundant health and a contented mind has the 
requisites essential for making an industrious, healthful, kindly 
worker, characterized by habits of cooperation, and cooperation 
in work is the essential in modern industry. 

Individualism and Cooperation 

Women have the individual outlook on life. They look 
forward to their own home and a life of their own apart from 
community life. Among women workers in factories, the social 
idea of life has not penetrated; their idea of mutual responsibility 
is deficient; in school there has been little effort to relate them 
to a co-working life: that of the wage-earner. The idea of the 
possession of things apart from others attracts them. The one 
fortunate influence counteracting this tendency to self-appre- 
ciation and isolation among women is the large families from 
which most girls come. Brothers and sisters induce cooperation 



6 Wage Worth of School Training 

and sharing of responsibilities. Schools in general, our public 
schools in particular, fail to build upon this home basis of coop- 
erative work and common responsibility; but, in the home, 
though the cooperative ideal exists, it exists unconsciously and the 
lessons to be learned from it have not been learned. School is 
the place for this consciousness to be emphasized and confirmed 
for girls, as it is now for boys, by the work and play it offers in 
special application of this ideal. From the schools where indi- 
vidual work prevails, girls come into factory life, which is far 
removed from individualism. In the factory, no one has time 
or inclination to tell them about the completed articles on which 
they are working, perhaps, the operation of running a single 
seam. They do their work in an unthinking way, being untrained 
to find meaning in doing parts of work. Meaning may be put 
into work, and frequently is, by an understanding forewoman 
interested in her girls as human beings, and interest on the 
part of a woman head of a department is helpful to individual 
productivity. 

Where foremen are in charge of departments of women workers, 
individual interest as affecting the workers is rarely seen; if 
interest is shown in individuals sex difference is likely to arouse 
feelings of partiality and jealousy detrimental to the whole 
department. There may be favoritism on the part of fore- 
women, but it does not lead to like disaster. Where a woman 
has been advanced to the position of forewoman, she is likely to 
be a woman superior in many respects and can be trusted to 
treat the members of her department as human beings as well 
as workers. She can make suggestions and changes of position 
among them which will result in harmonious feeling and the 
largest output, and she can represent to the management con- 
ditions which need attention because the workers are women. 
Her recommendations are of more value than a foreman's because 
she is a woman among women. 

Technical Information 

Technical information which would make a wage-earner 
more valuable to her employer is such as would make her more 
deeply interested in her work. If she knows about power- 
machines before she begins her work on them; if she knows 



Requirements of Work on the Worker 7 

about materials which she is handling; if she knows enough to 
make useful suggestions about combinations of design or mate- 
rials, she will come to the notice of the management and, if her 
ideas are good and well founded they will lead to better positions, 
to greater amount and higher quality of product and thus better 
sale for the product. Anything helpful about a worker which 
will distinguish her favorably from the mass of workers is apt 
to be noticed by progressive managers and may lead more 
readily to permanence, advancement and progressive wage. 
In the first few years of her wage-earning career, ability thus 
expressed may advance her rapidly. 

Statistics cited show that increase for the first four years of 
a wage-earner's career is rapid, out of proportion to the latter 
half of her wage-earning career. So that it is to her profit to 
go to work well prepared to rise rapidly and make her mark and 
position while she is still young. 

Mechanical Skill 

Mechanical or operative skill is requisite in the factory field. 
Speed and accuracy are the great requirements, for they mean 
product. On piecework basis, they determine the contents of 
her pay-envelope. Deftness, quickness of movement, alertness of 
eye, all lead to speed. At the present day this mechanical 
skill is easily obtained. To the young schoolgirl whose muscles 
are all responsive and trained, a little practice on power-machines 
in the schools would prepare her to be employed in the factory 
at once at the wage of an experienced worker. She could sit 
down at a power-machine and become a pieceworker without 
delay because she knows how to control her machine. If, in 
addition, she knew something about the construction of garments, 
so as to connect intelligently the operation upon which she is 
set to work with the operations preceding and following it, 
she could rapidly adapt herself to the particular requirements 
of the special article on which she is placed and her advance as 
a skilled worker would be rapid, providing she is physically and 
mentally poised and has the right attitude toward her work, 
with such habits of body and mind as will lead her to work 
well with others. 

Dexterity is not required in the slightly skilled work of operat- 
ing power-machines. Dexterity applies to high-grade operations 



8 Wage Worth of School Training 

and arts not represented to any material extent by women in 
the factory. Such dexterity which the school affords some 
girls who have artistic talent will find its use in the outside life 
of the factory girl and contribute variety which will relieve 
the routine of the day's work at a machine. "Cultural" infor- 
mation, likewise, is the safeguard of the girl whose wage-earning 
career is in the factory. If she has interests of an intellectual 
or artistic nature, she will fill her outside time to her own advance- 
ment. This will react on her attitude of mind while at work 
during the day, make it possible for her to do the repetitive work 
at the machine sustained by the feeling that, when the day is 
over and the product of her labor piled up in the basket beside 
her or credited in her account book, she can get the variety 
which her tastes and ideals in life demand. The worker whose 
mentality does not require this variety, who thrives on the fact 
that her responsibility is slight, who resists being changed from 
one operation to another — not liking change when her mind and 
fingers have once become adjusted to the repetition of the opera- 
tion — this girl finds recreation in the popular amusement features 
of the day. 

The school, however, is an agent in turning the interest of 
the mediocre mind into channels of wider usefulness, so that it 
may not saturate itself to its deterioration in the unwholesome 
extravagance of popular amusements. The arts and fancies 
which adorn a woman's life are so numerous and varied that, 
under the school's direction, the mediocre mentality may be 
supplied readily with permanent interest and helpful direction 
while still in school. 

There are several ways in which factories train their workers 
who come to them untrained mechanically from school or from 
some unallied occupation. First, girls who come through the 
recommendation of a friend are generally put in the same depart- 
ment with that friend and either this friend may start the girl 
on the work, sitting beside her, or the forewoman pays more or 
less attention to her the first few days of her employment. It 
is a "hit or miss," haphazard method, but is usual, and while 
crude and unsatisfactory, aids the majority of workers to attain 
a reasonable wage in a brief period of time. 

Whether trade training for a year before she enter employ- 
ment in the needle trades is worth that year to the girl, in an 



Requirements of Work on the Worker 9 

increased wage in the beginning and a more rapid increase there- 
after, it is still impossible to say with certainty because of in- 
sufficient statistics available at present. Inquiry would develop 
many interesting features, such as permanence at employment 
through seasonal depressions, rate of increase of the wage from 
week to week, health of the worker and cooperative value of 
such workers to the management. But operations on which 
the majority of workers begin and end their career as wage- 
earners are so simple in nature that special training is not required, 
other than what could be given in the public schools as a part 
of their regular work. The best of trade schools cannot approach 
factory conditions sufficiently to adjust the worker profitably 
to them, considering how much an extra year of general schooling 
means to the wage-earner. If that year of her life could be given 
to a regular school which would recognize in its courses the need 
of the girls for dexterity, it would extend her horizon in many 
lines of vital consequence to the girl's life while yet giving her 
the ability to acquire skill in the factory and to become a wage- 
earner. 

Another mode of training in the factory, only found in the 
highest grade factories, is to have a special room for beginners. 
Here they are trained during the necessary period at a fixed 
wage, for each department in the work which needs workers at 
the moment. This isolation in a special room is to give them 
time to gain confidence at their new work before going among 
the others, where the spin of the machinery and the multitude 
of workers are confusing to a beginner. In these practice-rooms 
in the high-class factories, there is a special woman in charge, 
whose only work is to teach the beginners. She is well qualified 
for this work — has generally been picked from among the high- 
class operators — and her introduction of the beginner to work is 
valuable. 

Still another method of training beginners is by a few special 
teachers giving their entire time to them. The learner is sent 
to any available machine, is started, watched and corrected, and 
encouraged by the teacher. She earns an apprentice wage of 
about two dollars a week for two weeks and then is expected to 
earn the minimum wage of the department on piecework. If 
unable to attain this speed but in other ways is a desirable 
worker, she is shifted to another department in need of workers, 



10 Wage Worth of School Training 

and tried out until by transferring she finds an operation suited 
to her. The wisdom of the teacher has every chance for exercise 
in this instruction and placement. 

In most factories, the applicant for work is placed, without 
selection as to fitness, at the machine that happens to be empty. 
She is helped by the one next to whom she sits when the fore- 
woman of the department is too busy with other responsibilities 
to attend to the newcomer. The discouragements of this method 
are great, and frequently, after the first day, the girl leaves, 
not to return. Where the forewoman is successful with her 
help, she attains it by paying special attention to the newcomer, 
encouraging her in every possible way, until she gets a secure 
grip on the situation. 

Limitations to school-training for factory wage-earning are 
mainly that the school cannot reproduce work conditions which 
later will surround the wage-earner. Properly the school con- 
siders the girl first and foremost. It is the school's business to 
develop the pupil at any cost to the school; the time of the 
teacher and all her attention are supposed to be given to the 
development of her pupils, but in the wage-earning world per- 
sonal attention is unusual. Every consideration in the factory 
is given to the product. Manufacture is production. Whatever 
increases production is of greatest concern to the management. 
The value of the individual as such is not yet recognized as an 
economic advantage. 

Work conditions have improved progressively from the in- 
ception of the industrial revolution to the present and there is 
still much room for further improvement of work conditions. 
Attention is being given more and more now to the human 
being, recognizing that the human mechanism must be in good 
condition and have the right surroundings in which to work if 
the product is to be of good quality and amount. The difference 
between the school attitude toward the human being and the 
business attitude is that the school considers the development of 
the human being as the end in view, while in business the human 
being is the agent of production. Hence there is a jar to the 
sensibilities of the school-trained worker when she leaves the 
highly protected atmosphere which has surrounded her in the 
school and enters the one of indifference to the individual which 
characterizes manufacture. If teachers in schools recognized 



Requirements of Work on the Worker 11 

professionally the business attitude toward workers, they could 
better prepare pupils for this transition. It would not require a 
trade school atmosphere to do this. Managers state that girls 
fresh from school are highly sensitive and critical of the manage- 
ment, that they lack industry, cannot concentrate on the work 
in hand, expect all kinds of exceptions to be made in their favor, 
in a word, are not "one of the crowd," nor are they with the 
crowd in the endeavor to increase production. 

Teachers should have upper classes in the grammar schools 
prepare themselves with information about industries of the 
locality. This can be obtained easily and would add vitality 
to their thought by getting them out of the routine of school life. 
The industries of the community maintain the life of the commu- 
nity and make all else possible. Most of the pupils are children 
of parents working in local industries and there is always neigh- 
borhood talk about work which, if encouraged, could vitalize 
the school life. Such industrial information can be gained by 
visiting factories. Most factories would be open to teachers, 
especially if managers felt the schools were interested in what 
they were doing. Visits to factories and talks with managers 
would inform them about modern processes and modern organ- 
ization; teachers would gain respect for leaders of industry when 
they learned the quality and degree of responsibility placed on 
industrial managers and of their range of power for good. 

Each of us is responsible as a consumer, as well as a producer. 
We are all consumers; not all of us are producers. We make 
demands for the product; we should know the conditions sur- 
rounding the making of this product. This knowledge perhaps 
would enable us to make even greater demands, or, on the other 
hand, to temper our demands by knowledge of the existence of 
limitations on manufacture. Women would then consider it a 
social crime to purchase sweatshop products. 

If teachers were saturated with first-hand knowledge of the 
conditions surrounding and governing modern production, they 
would be much safer guides, and could exercise powerful direction 
on the wage-earning career of their pupils by the dissemination 
of this knowledge during the school period. Through discussions 
and calling for contributions from pupils, they could arouse 
interests in these pupils that would develop avenues for em- 
ploying their energies and suggest wage-earning possibilities that 
otherwise might lie dormant. 



12 Wage Worth of School Training 

Boys and girls from school are most likely to drop into the 
occupation of another member of the family, of some neighbor, 
or of a kindly friend, or to use haphazard selection from the news- 
paper "want" columns; such chance selection may forestall 
growth along other lines which might be more remunerative and 
advantageous. Teachers, by having information about work 
conditions and requirements, would not be called upon necessarily 
to direct and thus become responsible for the wage-earning career 
of the pupil, but, by knowing the requirements of many indus- 
trial processes they would be able to point out the individual 
handicap in each employment; thus, by elimination, the best 
possible avenues for productive wage-earning would be revealed, 
leaving to the choice of the individual worker the responsibility 
of placing herself in the line of work best adapted to her. What 
is needed is the vocational guidance which prevents getting into 
the wrong channel, by helping the individual to avoid mistakes, 
the responsibility then resting properly on the individual who 
thus makes his own choice. 



Ill 

SCHOOL REQUIREMENTS 

School training which culminates in wage-earning has a worth, 
of course, but compared to easily attainable possibilities, present 
school training which girls in textile factories get is admittedly- 
inadequate as demonstrated by the results of this inquiry. An 
average weekly wage for 515 workers of $7.30 after an average 
of three and three-fourth years at present work, expresses unpro- 
gressive wage-earning, to say the least. 

Increased length of attendance at school shows in a quicker 
earning power as also does the consequently greater maturity at 
entering upon factory wage-earning, and the selection of girls 
with better standards of living. Graduates of grammar schools 
attain the average wage with one-half the experience of those 
leaving in the eighth grade. 

This should be significant to factory managers upon whom 
competition forces every economy and to whom overhead ex- 
pense is as great for slow learners as for rapid producers. But 
the amount of schooling of applicants is a question rarely asked. 

To educators it should point to the urgent need of inducing 
girls into the high school atmosphere by providing such useful 
courses as will convince both girls and parents of the undeniable 
wage-worth benefit of continued school training. 

It is requisite for the school to meet the new specialized in- 
dustrial and home conditions by supplying adequate training in 
dexterity. This can be done only by lengthening the school 
day and year, and by making the school the social center for all 
arts and manual practice which lead to dexterity, exact nerve 
response, and the cultivation of easy and habitual self-control 
in thought, speech, and action. 

The function of the school still should be to supply funda- 
mental book knowledge, but in addition it should inculcate 
habits of cooperation through making the teacher a leader, not a 
master; better ethics and basic industrial habits through habitual 
self -analysis by the pupil; and the acquisition of health, loyalty, 
industry, honesty and dexterity by daily example on the part of 
the teacher and practice on the part of the pupil. 

13 



14 Wage Worth of School Training 

Another fact revealed by these figures is that the slow, over- 
age schoolgirl is not behind the normal schoolgirl at wage- 
earning nor does she require more experience. She is slow at 
school because of less complexity of neurone correlation as 
evidenced in slow response to the demand for rapid and exact 
judgment. This does not affect the easy muscular control re- 
quired in manufacturing operations. A greater variety of funda- 
mental technique would equip the slow girl with a dexterity and 
industrial understanding which would place her on a mental and 
social par with high ranking academic students, and make her 
wage more rapidly progressive. 

SCHOOL TRAINING IN HAND AND MACHINE WORK 

Training No Training 

Per Cent Per Cent 

Number 246 47.8 269 52.2 

Total Weekly Earnings $1,659.65 44.1 $2,101.10 55.9 

Total No. Years' Experience 664 34.3 1,270 65.7 

Wage Index .92 1 .07 

Experience Index .72 1 .28 

Wage-Experience Ratio 1 . 28 .83 

Average Wage $6.75 $7.81 

Average Experience 2f yrs. 4f yrs. 

From the comparison, there seems to be a quicker earning-power among 
those girls who have had previous training at school, but average weekly wage 
is greater among those who have reported no training in school, due to nearly 
twice the experience. 

According to the results of this inquiry, school-training in 
hand and machine work seems to effect a quicker wage-earning 
power. Nearly one-half of the school group had prior hand- 
work training and this beneficial fact was emphasized by analysis 
of statistics. The practical handwork courses which have 
edged their way into upper grammar and high schools have as 
yet inadequate bearing on wage-earning either in preparatory 
technique or in information about work conditions or require- 
ments. 

Operative work requires skill which comes readily and quickly 
on a foundation of dexterity, but where does the girl of to-day 
have the chance to gain nimbleness and expertness with her 
hands which made her mother and her grandmother makers of 
home and community life? The city girl in tenement, flat, or 
apartment has minimum practice in handwork and the school 
offers little satisfactory equivalent in training for dexterity. 

These statistics show the superior earning power of the foreign 
born which, considered apart from her greater length of service, 



School Requirements 15 

would make her appear to be the more profitable worker. But 
analysis of the factor of experience, or years at present work, is 
indicative of a trend which should be followed in outlining 
advances in educational procedure, namely, toward habits of 
exactness and speed and ready applications of dexterity. School 
authorities should exercise their function of inducing among 
employers and managers increased appreciation of the worth of 
continued school training among wage-earners. The natural 
lag of a cautious, traditionalised scholastic institution in respond- 
ing to new industrial needs has made many business men and 
employers of labor skeptical even as to the possible value of 
schooling for wage-workers. 

This study of women workers in textile factories was restricted 
to the congested eastern part of the country. Urban workers 
and urban work conditions have not the wholesomeness of rural 
factory life where women workers come from country homes by 
means of electric cars to the factory situated advantageously as 
to light, air and space. The noon hour in many such places 
allows the workers to go home. Many factory hardships to 
workers would be remedied if not wiped out by removal of 
manufacturing plants to rural districts. 



IV 
NEEDS OF THE FACTORY WAGE-EARNER 

The factory field which to-day receives the schoolgirl as a 
wage-earner makes definite demands upon her if she is to become 
a progressive earner. These demands are inherent in the nature 
of present-day factory organization, which has departed from 
trade methods and now requires accuracy, speed, and specialized 
machine-operating. Trade schools for the majority belong to 
the past, when preparation for trades was needed. Operations 
can be learned in from a few hours to a few weeks and are best 
taught in the factory, whose special methods and machines are 
not adapted to school conditions. Factory work must be the 
wage-earning field for the majority of grammar school girls, 
because of the numbers and medium ability required. Hence, 
school authorities and teachers should acquaint themselves 
thoroughly with present changed factory work requirements 
and conditions, to enable them rightly to prepare and advise 
pupils who may enter the field. 

Dressmaking, millinery, and housekeeping which have re- 
tained from the last generation of wage-earning the name of 
"Trades" and are still taught in schools as such have each, in 
fact, yielded to specialization methods. Dressmaking and 
millinery establishments, both for custom and manufacturing 
trade, demand workers able to do one or two specialties well and 
with rapidity. 

Millinery is markedly seasonal work and so specialized in the 
ability required that transfer of workers from the simple proc- 
esses of wholesale manufacture to the more varied procedures 
of retail work, is unprofitable, hence impracticable. The whole- 
sale millinery season alternates with the retail, but workers in 
one are not necessarily able to meet the requirements of the 
other. 

Housekeeping is the last work to yield to economy of speciali- 
zation in method of organization. Even this trade stronghold 
is rapidly giving way though the general worker is still in demand. 
But another factor of more disintegrating influence renders this 

16 



Needs of the Factory Wage-Earner 17 

general trade work, as well as its specialized lines, undesired 
by women wage-earners of American birth. It is stigmatized 
by lack of standardization and by the isolated nature of the 
worker's life in a nonprogressive, unsocial atmosphere. The 
household worker is not and, as homes are now arranged, cannot 
be an integral partaker of the life of the home in which she serves. 
Yet her wage includes "board and home" and she is expected to 
be there the largest part of her time. Gregarious human in- 
stincts run counter to finding satisfaction in wage-earning isola- 
tion. School training in methods of working alone has not 
altered the natural desire to be in the crowd when at work. 

Wage-earning necessity, for the great majority of grammar 
school girls, is an economic fact. Service of all in home and 
community life is a social fact. Both should be prepared for by 
adequate school-training. What are the fundamentals in prep- 
aration for these functions for which the school can and should 
assume responsibility and direction? 

In response to this vital and social school query, the endeavor 
has been made in this study to show by statements from factory 
managers and statistics of apprenticeship days that the factory 
can best train its own workers for specialized operations with 
which wage-earning begins and ends to-day and will so remain 
as far ahead as our limited vision extends. The successful 
worker and progressive wage-earner, as testified to by managers, 
is the industrious, healthy, alert-minded girl, who comes to the 
factory directly from school, ready to adapt herself to the cooper- 
ative requirements of organized industry. Skill in operating 
can and is quickly acquired in the factory, if the newcomer has 
health, habits of industry, and mental understanding of the 
demands of industrial organization. The function of the school 
in preparing girls for factory wage-earning is to instruct them 
in why and how to be healthy women; to establish habits of 
concentration and speedy, accurate and cooperative work; and 
to give understanding of and training in the use of the English 
language. 

School procedure which will accomplish these results would 
not thereby side-track its attention for the benefit of any one 
class of pupils and thus depart from democratic ideals. Neither 
would it select those among its pupils who are to be factory 
workers and thus stratify its pupils by means of special class 



18 Wage Worth of School Training 

training or special schools. The only limitation to the factory 
worker's education in the American public school would be 
shorter time at school on account of expense. This should be 
remedied by opportunity for ambitious workers to continue their 
schooling in day-time classes in the factory conducted under 
public school and employer's cooperation. 

Instruction in hygiene and arrangement of work, study and 
exercise, in order to maintain health by correct habits of living, 
is a justifiable demand to be made by everyone of all schools for 
all alike. Habits of industry are an acquisition necessary for all, 
irrespective of economic conditions in life. School years are 
the most valuable portion of the habit-forming period, and 
playing or dawdling at study or work makes a harmful and in- 
delible impress on the minds of children. 

The seriousness of German educational method has marked 
its human product as universally industrious workers. We have 
much to learn in inducing habits of concentration and persistent 
application in school work and by school methods. But indus- 
trious habits must have in them the element of speed, for quantity 
as well as quality determines the amount of the wage. 

In this enduring, persistent application to work lies the for- 
eigner's excellence. The foreign-born earn the highest wage, as 
was shown in these records, even though taking more years than 
the American-born to attain that wage. The illiterate foreigner 
excels all workers in concentration and wage-earning in operative 
lines; on the other hand, the American girl, who goes through the 
grammar school and has had the benefit of application to sys- 
tematic work, shows a quicker wage-earning power than the 
foreigner who has had fewer years at school training. 

Revision of School Methods 

Industrial workers would benefit from a revision of methods 
along the lines of interest, application, industry and dexterity. 
There is pressing need for more and better applied training in 
application and rapidity in doing work. That the majority of 
girls leaving the sixth and seventh grammar grades earn only 
six, seven, or eight dollars after one or two years in the factory is 
an indictment against the training in habits of thought and 
action given them during their school period. An operator should 



Needs of the Factory Wage-Earner 19 

earn at least ten dollars per week by steady application, so simple 
is the specialized factory work. Frivolity, lack of interest, 
physical disability, lack of energy, indifference to work, or work 
unsuited to individual needs, are the handicaps to good wage- 
earning. 

Accuracy is another vital qualification of wage-earning toward 
which every day of school life should contribute its training. 
But managers, without exception, who employ grammar school 
girls report endless waste of material and loss of time by work 
spoiled through inaccuracy. The piecework basis for wage 
estimation has been adopted generally because based on accuracy 
and quickness and therefore effective in making workers ambi- 
tious and holding them to standard requirements of workman- 
ship. It is fruitless in this special study to present the admitted 
objections to this method of wage payment. 

Inaccuracy due to eye defects unknown to workers themselves 
or to supervisors often causes poor work. These defects should 
have been discovered in school and either remedied or made the 
condition of rejection for work requiring keen vision. 

Dextekity and Skill 

Accuracy as a work requirement naturally leads to a discussion 
of hand and eye training in school. In this connection, it is 
wise to define terms often confused. Dexterity is a generic 
word meaning expertness in manipulation of materials and tools 
and is gained by handling both while muscles are still actively 
responsive to training. Dexterity 1 is the larger term embracing 
skill. Skill is specially applied speed and accuracy. Mechanical 
skill is speed and accuracy applied to the operation of machines. 
The operation of machines is but one type of application of 
dexterity, and skill at it can be more quickly gained at the factory 
or place of work if the applicant has gained dexterity by handling 
all sorts of materials and tools. 

Dexterity is needed by the worker outside of her wage-earning 
field; in fact, is fundamental to her life-success as a woman. 
When wage-earning used to be trade work and the beginner was 
advanced along the whole line of production according to her 
ability and length of service, her training in dexterity was an 
accompaniment of her wage-earning period. But this varied 

1 In this discussion dexterity is used in the sense of manual dexterity, fjjj^ 



20 Wage Worth of School Training 

training has ceased with specialization. Even in dressmaking, 
millinery, and housework, which retain their former trade features 
more than other lines of production, workers are expected to be 
fitted to specialize on portions of the article or in single or closely 
allied operations. 

Preparatory training on making complete articles or on general 
work, will give a dexterity which readily adapts itself to doing a 
special kind of work, and becomes skill (meaning speed and 
accuracy). Since wage-earning occupation no longer gives 
training in all-round work leading to dexterity, and as most homes 
have long ago departed from employing children usefully, it is 
absolutely necessary for the grammar school to supply the de- 
ficiency by affording many types of training in sense perception 
and muscular control. Boys and girls alike should be trained in 
handling the materials and tools of the household, the garden, 
carpenter's bench, and textiles. Such training should not be 
given to boys only or girls only. 

This training in tools, materials and processes is sense training 
in sight and touch chiefly. In addition, training of the sense 
of hearing by instruction in music is needed. Singing is the 
form of expression which will extend popular appreciation of 
music. As a cooperating medium and stimulant for united 
action, chorus work has large practical value. Practice on 
musical instruments is desirable as training in dexterity, but the 
art required is long and expensive; hence, prohibitive to the 
general student. 

Drawing, both free and mechanical, should be an accompani- 
ment to other lines of school work suggested and will be a more 
easily acquired means of expression, as dexterity increases through 
training in using all kinds of tools and materials. Free and 
ready use of pencil illustrations as an invaluable aid to expres- 
sion is often conclusive when words are ineffectual in giving 
directions. Drawing attracts the attention to objects as they 
are and helps to correct faulty observation. 

Training in English 

Most fundamental to acquiring habits of concentration, 
accuracy and dexterity is clear understanding of the meanings 
of words and the correct use of symbols of language. Ignorance 



Needs of the Factory Wage-Earner 21 

or partial understanding of the English language is characteristic 
of industrial unrest and unfitness for work. A school child who 
does not understand the text is uninterested in study; the teach- 
ers' explanations given in words much like the text fail to grip the 
child; likewise in the factory instructions about work pass over 
the pupil's mind due to limited vocabulary; because of lack of 
word comprehension, manual work must be demonstrated by 
teachers for the pupil to copy and this per se tends to limit 
acquisition and use of words and therefore ability to understand 
plans and instructions, thus in turn restricting intelligence and 
forming a true vicious circle. 

Introduction of varied tools, materials, and processes, and 
cooperative work among pupils would bring about an extended 
vocabulary of needed and useful words, would insure their 
immediate use, and arrangements for working together would 
accomplish instruction of pupils by each other, the most effective 
kind of teaching. 

Cooperative Play 

The playground for boys under a directing teacher is the place 
where the best lessons are learned, and learned by boys mostly 
from each other. Girls have not had enough of this playground 
atmosphere to put them on equal terms with boys in the lessons 
which play gives. 

In all indoor school work, teachers are apt to be too much in 
evidence, do too much talking, gaining for themselves experience 
in this art, but failing to impart to pupils the power of expression. 
Children sit continually at their desks, studying, pretending or 
attempting to study, occasionally reciting what they have mem- 
orized. Many words are mere sounds to them, are not under- 
stood, but accepted in their association as probably having some 
meaning. Answers to the matter in hand may come readily, 
but it is only with context association. Individual words are 
not grasped, as is shown by the different and restricted language 
used in spontaneous conversation among school children, as 
compared with the language of the recitation. This constant 
and almost exclusive use of words alone as means of instruction, 
together with the failure of many pupils to understand the 
meaning of many words, decreases interest, increases the mortality 
of school attendance as soon as working papers are obtainable. 



22 Wage Worth of School Training 

Then these immature, untrained boys and girls, lacking in under- 
standing of how or what to do, stream to low-skilled or unskilled 
work, equipped with slight power of muscular control, sense 
keenness, or understanding of means of communication, and the 
natural consequence is that they remain always near their starting 
point. The so-called "blind-alley" occupations are such only 
to those who are too blind to see their way out. In this sense 
any occupation may be a blind alley to the narrowly equipped 
worker. There must be individual resource in ability to do, to 
understand and to communicate, if advance in industry and wage- 
worth is expected. 

Opportunity of the Public School 

The public school in this democracy has the opportunity and 
responsibility of preparing each and every student for progressive 
wage- earning through: 

(1) Knowledge and practice of the laws of hygiene to establish 
health. 

(2) Training in habits of industry, accuracy, speed, and the 
attainment of muscular control and dexterity. 

(3) Understanding the meanings of words and the correct use 
of language symbols in order to gain readiness and ease in com- 
munication. 

With health, industrious habits, muscular control, and correct 
knowledge and use of a liberal vocabulary, a foundation is laid for 
desiring and obtaining further information about the interesting 
things which are everywhere at hand. The hand-lacking person 
is likewise deficient in judgment and dexterity, and judgment 
commands wages in industry. For operative work, skill is 
necessary and is quickly gained because simple in type; inhibition 
of diverting interests sustained by physical endurance gives the 
human condition for a skilled operator. Progressive wage- 
earning requires childhood training in schools in the fundamentals 
of health, industrious habits, muscular control and dexterity, and 
usable knowledge of the English language. 

This study of wage-earning women in the textile field recog- 
nizes fully that the preparation of women for their life is twofold, 
viz., in Dexterity and in Social Relationships, but not, as com- 
monly accepted, to make ready on the one hand for the home, 



Needs of the Factory Wage-Earner 23 

and on the other, for wage-earning. The latter partial and in- 
complete classification is but a smaller grouping within the larger: 

I. Dexterity, through training in manual and technical arts, is 
applicable equally to wage-earning and home requirements. 
Information about materials, tools, processes, industrial organi- 
zation and conditions should be the running accompaniment of 
all technical training. 

II. Social Relationships mean life in the home and in the com- 
munit}'. The woman's success in wage-earning is dependent 
largely upon her understanding of conduct in maintaining 
proper appreciation of others and just and kindly relationships 
with fellow-workers. 

The opportunity of the school is to prepare the girl whose home 
advantages are limited in social relationships, for her life in the 
home and in the community, so that she may render the largest 
service in both, a function which should demand increasing 
attention from directors of education. This study, though 
limited to consideration of factors bearing upon school training 
in technical arts, would err in failing to stress the vital need of 
school training in social relationships. 

Illiterates 

The foreigner who comes to this country and in a few weeks has 
mastered the power-machine, and yet because of constant asso- 
ciation with her own friends in the factory, can barely understand 
directions for the work given to her, is the one that the manu- 
facturer, who looks only to immediate output, wishes to have 
among his workers. Her attention is concentrated upon her work; 
she is under urgent necessity of earning as much as she can; she 
has no distracting interests; her one thought is to increase the 
contents of her weekly pay-envelope, and her output in a highly 
specialized manufacturing line is what increases the profits to her 
employer. 

This policy of management is short-sighted, because the illit- 
erate foreign worker is swayed by people of her own nationality, 
whose own margin of knowledge is barely sufficient to meet the 
insistent demands of daily living. Her friends are poor advisers, 
because of their little knowledge, yet they control the illiterate 
newcomer; not rarely inciting her with feelings of bitterness 



24 Wage Worth of School Training 

against restrictions due chiefly to her own limitations. They 
accept the catchwords which agitators use to disturb labor con- 
ditions — perhaps with more ample justification than we realize. 
As a rule, no counteracting influence brought to bear by the 
factory management reaches illiterate foreigners, good producers 
though they are; they are suspicious of attempts on the part of 
the management to approach them; they bring to their own 
friends incorrect reports, through misunderstandings and mis- 
apprehension of what is being done and of what is going on in 
the factory; and, though producing more than their neighbors 
at the machines, they breed discontent and, in time of stress, are 
the first to walk out and to use brute-force measures to make their 
non-striking sisters uncomfortable; their productiveness of goods 
is not productiveness of good feeling. Only recently has this prob- 
lem pressed upon the manufacturer. Manufacturing industries 
heretofore have depended mainly upon native-born workers for 
their product, but the foreigner has seized wage-earning oppor- 
tunities, and specialized machine work has become adapted to 
limited ability so that aliens now occupy many places at machines 
where five years ago no illiterate foreigners were employed. 

Thus the problem of handling illiterate foreign workers is 
brought for solution directly both to the industrial manager and 
to the public school. Private agencies may be able, in the be- 
ginning, to handle illiterate foreign men, whose continuous 
wage-earning necessity makes them seek to become conversant 
with the language and ways of their adopted country; but the 
woman's uncertain tenure of place in the wage-earning world 
lessens her desire to seek education that will make her more fit to be 
a wage-earner. Classes are now being conducted in New York 
City in the factory during the first hours in the morning, when 
the worker is freshest; the employer giving the hour at the regu- 
lation wage for that hour, and the public school supplying the 
teacher and books. This initiative move in cooperative edu- 
cation has been described elsewhere. 1 It is suggestive of ways 
and means and results that should bear fruit to all parties 
concerned: the employer, the worker, and the country. 



1 Report on Adult Illiteracy and Worker's Classes by Winthrop Talbot, 
M. D., published by U. S. Bureau of Education. 



METHOD OF THE INQUIRY 

This study of girls at work in the textile industry was begun 
during the winter of 1912-13 with the purpose of learning what 
factory requirements should influence the education of girls for 
industrial life. 

Industrial education has been directed largely in this country 
by school men and women whose contact with the industrial 
world has not been immediate, and plans formulated by them for 
industrial and technical training have been dominated more 
by what it seemed theoretically that boys and girls should have 
as preparation for wage-earning than by analytical study of 
workers, work and work conditions. Such needs can best be 
ascertained by tracing the history of the workers themselves; 
connoting their needs, successes and failures with the chief 
factors influencing them and interpreting the findings by the aid 
of managers' experience with and knowledge of workers. 

Chief Apparent Factors 

The chief apparent factors in the needs of women workers 
seemed to be Nationality and School Education, the measure of 
success being Wage and Length of Service in attaining the wage. 
Minor factors affecting success as registered by the wage are Age, 
Experience, and Permanence at one process. Other factors are 
to be learned only by first-hand contact with the worker, the work, 
and the management. These comprise amount and effect of 
preparatory Technical Training in home or school, amount of 
Special Training given in the factory, Steadiness of Employment, 
effect of Change of Employment, and interference of Mar- 
riage. 

This inquiry has refrained from questions as to the social life 
of the worker apart from her work. It has dealt with her nation- 
ality, education and wage-earning career as a specific and legiti- 
mate line of inquiry which industrial managers would recognize as 
having possibility of helpfulness and because of which they would 
more readily aid schools in their specific directive endeavors. 

25 



26 Wage Worth of School Training 

For industrial managers can aid materially the cause of indus- 
trial education and, by their cooperation, additional light can be 
thrown on the much debated issues which affect policies in tech- 
nical schools for girls. 

Textile work in the schools now is an acknowledged field for 
training girls because of its close connection with home needs 
and occupations. Trade schools for girls have taken up textile 
operations as training for both home needs and for wage-earning. 
Such trade schools are few in number as yet, and expensive to 
equip and run, while their commensurate usefulness to the rapid 
advancement of the wage-earning girl on operative work is still 
an open question. This inquiry aimed to get light on this special 
phase of the education of girls by first-hand observation of the 
technique of textile operations and by discussion with many 
managers as to the most desirable preparation for success and 
wage advancement of operators. 

The best factories were chosen to be visited under the con- 
viction that constructive ideas are gained chiefly from first-class 
conditions. 

Field of Inquiry 

The textile field was chosen for this inquiry, as one into which 
the majority of girls and women drift because of steady and regu- 
lar demand for workers; because of variety of processes and 
range of work from the most simple to the most complex and high 
speed operations; and because of the ancient, honorable, and ever 
continuous interest and appeal to womankind of textile work 
and its needle extensions and completion. 

The factories visited were located in New York and Brooklyn; 
Newark, Camden, Raritan, Paterson, Passaic, and New Bed- 
ford. In these factories were manufactured the raw fibres 
of silk, wool, and cotton; silk knitted goods, silk gloves, under- 
wear and hosiery, lace curtains, white and colored embroideries, 
cotton cloth, cotton duck, aprons, undermuslins, shirt waists, 
children's dresses, silk ribbons, millinery, and corsets. They 
also included dress and coat making, men's clothing, and 
laundry work. 

Working Plan 

The working plan of this inquiry was based on the idea of ob- 
taining the interest of managers in better school training for 



Method of the Inquiry 27 

wage-earners through a more intimate knowledge of work re- 
quirements on the part of school directors. This could be done 
only by seeing workers at work and by getting frank expression 
about workers' qualifications from those employing them and 
directing their work. Personal introductions were obtained by 
the inquirer to the one in highest authority in each of the thirty 
factories visited and appointments were made for conference and 
inquiry. 

In this educational survey, three factors were directive and 
dominant on the observations made: 

1. Type of girl who succeeds: her preparation, remuneration, 
endurance and opportunities. 

2. Technique of operations by which she earns her living. 

3. Conditions, human and physical, under which she works. 

It was the purpose of this analysis to obtain a glimpse of the 
necessary fundamentals of industrial education for women as a 
basis for determining: 

1. How to prepare girls to select intelligently and follow skill- 
fully a gainful occupation with due regard to their mental and 
physical limitations. 

2. To define the successful attitude of the worker toward her 
work and the management. 

3. To find ways of cooperating between school, management, 
and worker which would have educational and, hence, progress- 
ive results to all concerned. 

Questions Put to Managers 

The questions asked of managers were: 

Is the demand for your product growing or diminishing? 

Is your industry over- or undersupplied with skilled or unskilled 
workers? 

Is there much or gradual change in operations? 

Is it seasonal? 

What qualities are necessary for success in the worker as 
judged by you? 

Is the untrained worker desired? 

What is the preferable age of beginners? 



28 Wage Worth of School Training 

The object of the request to visit the factory was stated briefly. 
As one practically interested and actively engaged for ten years 
in training girls to become wage-earners, the inquirer felt the 
need of seeing the girls at their work and of talking with managers 
about the girls' successes and failures, and thus gaining more 
direct light on the question of industrial education for girls by 
learning what to emphasize and what to avoid. The manage- 
ment invariably gave a cordial welcome, a hearty concurrence 
in the need for more knowledge of the subject, and extended 
every courtesy and assistance to obtain all the information fac- 
tory and office could afford. The factory manager or superin- 
tendent generally was the escort through the works with instruc- 
tions to answer all questions and to permit the workers to be 
freely questioned alone if any information could thus better be 
obtained. Any facts which the payroll might give were put at 
the disposal of the inquirer. Thus time, information, and not 
only an unhampered but an assisted right-of-way into the work- 
rooms and among the workers were given freely. Requisite data 
could not have been obtained without active and intelligent in- 
terest of such responsible industrial leaders, the majority of whom 
had themselves worked up from the ranks. 

The Questionnaire for Women Workers 

The following questionnaire was prepared by the writer for 
the purpose of recording specific facts about the workers them- 
selves. These papers on letter-size sheets were given out by 
the superintendent in four of the factories under the condition 
that no worker need feel obliged to answer the questions. The 
smaller slip explained the reasons for the questions, and the 
worker was free to reply or not. 

Owing to illiteracy, ignorance, and other vital reasons, many 
girls could not answer the questions. Returns such as could be 
used for statistical purposes were as follows : 

201 from a total of 364 employees, or 55.2 per cent. 

76 from a total of 228 employees, or 34.2 per cent. 

80 from a total of 1462 employees, or 5.5 per cent. 

275 from a total of 1357 employees, or 18.8 per cent. 



Method of the Inquiry 29 

The form of the questionnaire was as follows: 

INQUIRY FOR INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION 

Name 

Address 

City and county where you were born Year of your birth 

Parents' nationality 

Number of years you spent in public school In private school 

At what age did you leave school In what grade were you 

If you are married, how many years 

What kind of hand or machine work did you learn at home 

Kind learned at school 

Present employment : Name of firm 

How did you get this work 

What work are you on now 

How long were you learning this 

How much per week did you get while learning 

How long have you worked at this operation 

What are your average earnings per week now 

Other work with this firm: What other operation 

How long learning it How long on it as piece worker 

Average earnings per week 

Reason for change to next operation 

What did you do before coming to this factory 

How long were you there Average earnings per week 

How many other firms have you worked for and how long with each 

The purpose of these questions is to find out from women workers such facta 
as will help grammar schools to train girls more directly to be self-supporting. 
Your name is desired merely to give ownership to the answers which follow. 
Your address — to locate you with reference to your work. 
Your nationality — to learn if there is a connection between nationality and 

certain types of work. 
Your age — to learn at what rate wages increase with life experience. 
Length of schooling — to learn what effect education has on working ability. 
Single or married — to learn how much marriage interferes with continuing as 

a wage-earner. 
Early technical training — to learn about your preparation for earning your 

living. 
Your present work — to learn what part chance played in directing you to 

your work. 
Time learning it — to find out how much training you required. 
Wages while learning — to find out the cost of your special training. 
Time at your present work — to find out how steady it is. 
Earnings per week — to rate the operation as compared with other operations . 
Remaining questions — to find out what effect changing work has on the worker. 

Many conditions militated against a fuller return of answered 
questionnaires and it was impossible to place any in most factories. 



30 Wage Worth of School Training 

The general understanding among employes being that they owe 
their employer only the equivalent of their wages in work, all 
else which they give is gratuitous. Their friends tell them they 
need answer no questions about themselves, and none are asked 
as a general thing. They are employed as the need arises, put 
to work and remain if able to do the work. A friend or relative 
recommends them and the overseer of their department through 
daily contact learns about them. Where there is an organization 
in the factory among the workers, and particularly if a woman is 
their superior officer, a feeling of solidarity is created which is 
evident to an outside observer. In places so organized and where 
the employer or superintendent was sympathetically related to 
his employes it was possible to place the questionnaires either 
with the foremen, forewomen, or with the factory manager. As 
it was a matter solely of courtesy to the inquirer, the conditions 
for placing the blanks among the workers and getting the ques- 
tions answered had to be left entirely to the convenience of the 
factory. They were given to the girls with the understanding 
that there was no compulsion about returning them and only 
under that agreement would they ever have been considered. 
In factories where foreign help predominates, much suspicion 
would be aroused by presenting such a blank only to the English- 
speaking workers, so there it was thought best that the matter 
should not even be suggested. Even among many of the Eng- 
lish-speaking women a casual survey revealed such a low order 
of intelligence that it would have required a personal interview 
with each worker, putting the questions most simply and directly, 
to have obtained answers. Such procedure, while really the best 
way with all types of workers, would have made this inquiry, 
individually undertaken, impracticable. The entrance into the 
factory world to learn the educational status of the woman 
worker as bearing on her wage-earning ability has to be sur- 
rounded and thus limited by every precaution, so as not to 
endanger the progress of the inquiry itself, nor become a dis- 
organizing feature and thus prejudice the fate of succeeding 
inquirers. 

Replies 

The questionnaires upon which the statistics of this inquiry 
are based were filled out through the courtesy of an undermuslin 



Method of the Inquiry 31 

factory, a silk glove factory, a silk ribbon factory, and a lace 
curtain and embroidery factory. 

In the undermuslin factory the factory manager gave out the 
blanks to all the girls, the answers were written at the factory 
and then collected. The papers were looked over in the office 
and any blanks on the wage inquiry were filled out from the 
payroll. This brought a 55.2 per cent response. 

At the silk glove factory the inquirer was given an opportunity 
of speaking to the girls assembled in the lunch room. It was 
here made plain to them that these questions were asked of them 
for the purpose of getting information to help in training girls 
for earning their living, but that there was no compulsion put 
on them about answering. Responses were obtained from 18.8 
per cent. 

In the silk ribbon factory the foremen of the various depart- 
ments were told to get answers from about a dozen girls in each 
department representing all grades of workers, the foreman him- 
self asking the girls up to his desk, and writing down the replies 
for them. These blanks were the only set completely filled out. 
A selection thus resulted of 34.2 per cent of the working force. 

In the lace curtain and embroidery factory, the superintendent 
gave out the blanks at his own discretion. He had been thirty 
years among his workers, was popular because just and kindly; 
he asked that these papers be filled out by those he picked out. 
They asked no questions about it and did as requested. This 
resulted in 5.4 per cent return. 

Bulking these various returns gives a varied assortment of 
women workers engaged in the processes of silk thread and ribbon 
manufacture and the varied operations of silk glove, undermuslin, 
lace curtain and embroidery making. It is proper to emphasize 
the fact that we find in various processes in the separate manu- 
factures which compose the needle industry, operations of similar 
type and kind in all, so that a girl may be employed in similar 
work in making such dissimilar products as gloves, ribbons, 
undermuslins, and embroidery. 

The perfection of statistical results would be attained if a full 
record could be secured on a similar questionnaire from every 
girl and woman at work in the textile and needle industries. 
Such a survey would have no element of selection to affect its 
results, but it would require the endorsement of the national 



32 Wage Worth of School Training 

government to put it through with an ample force of investiga- 
tors, interpreters, and statisticians. 

An educator's qualifications for constructive investigation are 
inherent in education itself. These are the possession of the mel- 
ioristic view of life, belief in the long range remedy, interest and 
faith in human development, appreciation of standards and 
requirements to be met, genuine sympathy with all sorts and con- 
ditions of people, knowledge of the technique of the field inves- 
tigated and of the mental and physical requirements of the vari- 
ous extensions of work. In the human aspects of the situation 
in which an inquirer finds herself, the psychology which an edu- 
cator should possess is put into constant practice. 

Besides the helpfulness of the impression made by the actual 
vision of twenty thousand girls and women at work which no 
amount of reading about could ever make real, it is worth while to 
know the conditions under which girls work, the kind of men and 
women under whom they work, and their opinion of the workers' 
qualifications for success or failure. The factory field is not 
known by educators even though a large proportion of the girls 
who leave the elementary school to earn their living go into it. 
Home occupations are experienced by us all, have been well ana- 
lyzed and established as school subjects and recognized as every 
woman's field of activity, but it is equally vital to the individual, 
the home and the community, that the factory field of wage- 
earning activity be known to educators as a check on prevail- 
ing school theories. Girls on their way to womanhood need 
training in self-reliance, wage-earning and co-working to offset 
the home tendency toward individual isolation, and for the sake of 
community serviceableness. Through industrially- and socially- 
minded teachers the schools can be wisely connected with actual 
occupations and social organizations which will make the world's 
work interesting and real to the schoolgirl. 



VI 
STATISTICAL PROCEDURE 

The records are in two divisions: 1. General Group, 2. School 
History Group. 

Statistical treatment of each group has been similar. Most 
of the records in the School History Group are included in the 
General Group. The statistics of the General Group comprise 
nativity, parents' nationality, length of service, age of workers, 
wage, and apprentice period but is incomplete as to school history. 
The School History Group gives number of years at school, age 
at leaving, grade at leaving, and has furnished material for more 
extended statistical groupings and combinations. 

All data have been referred to the Wage, the wage being used 
to gauge value of school training in its industrial bearing. The 
age and grade of leaving school and number of years in school 
were used separately as statistical media for calculation of group 
values. By group value is meant varying wage of workers in- 
fluenced by similarity of school background. 

Coefficient of Correlation 

Schooling has been the basis of grouping to show variation in 
wage results. 

The relation which exists between the wage and age, and 
wage and experience was estimated by the Pearson coefficient of 
correlation 1 on the median basis to be almost identical: 

Wage and age being .43, and wage and experience .432. 
Medians for 605 reporting wage, age and experience are: 
Median weekly wage — $6.99. 
Median age — 18| years. 
Median experience — 2 years. 
This closeness of correlation between age and experience as 
wage factors eliminated the need of working with age and 
experience as separate factors. The age factor was dropped 

1 The Pearson coefficient of correlation is much used in school statistics for 
estimating relationship between mental abilities based on accuracy required 
by school studies on the basis of 100 per cent. In this inquiry, the Pearson 

4 33 



34 Wage Worth of School Training 

therefore, and the experience factor was used in calculating wage 
relationship. Otherwise, it would have been necessary to work 
with both factors, age and wage, in making wage group calcula- 
tions. 

Since the average of wage, age and experience was used as basis 
for comparison in the tables, the Pearson coefficient of correlation 
was calculated for the School History Group on the average 
basis: 

Average wage — $7.30. 

Average age 21 years. 

Average experience 3| years. 

This resulted in a wage and age coefficient .34; for wage and 
experience .38. 

Deviation of each worker's wage, age and experience from the 
average made a larger difference in the age and experience figure 
for correlation than their deviation from the median. Both age 
and experience correlations with wage on the average basis are 
less than on the median basis. Averages of wage, age, and 
experience are higher than medians, thus accounting for the 
smaller correlation figure, the majority of the workers furnishing 
data for this inquiry being on a small wage, and young in age and 
experience. 

coefficient of correlation is applied to estimate relationship between wage-earn- 
ing abilities, based on age and experience. 

The procedure in the use of the Pearson coefficient in this statistical study 
was as follows: 

The Wage amounts were arranged in serial order. In columns were noted 
the wage and age and experience of each worker. 

The median for wage, age and experience was then calculated. The devia- 
tion from this median of the wage, age and experience of each individual was 
recorded in parallel columns; each deviation was squared and recorded in a 
separate column. Each wage deviation was multiplied by the experience 
deviation and each wage deviation was multiplied by the age deviation for 
each worker. The results were added algebraically, registering plus and 
minus signs in the multiplication. These sums were worked out according to 
the Pearson formula for the Coefficient of Correlation. 

7±x ■ v 



" n » n 

2 = algebraic sum. 

= multiplied. 
x = wage deviation from median wage. 
y = experience deviation from median experience. 
n = number of records, 605. 
r= coefficient of correlation. 



Statistical Procedure 35 

Nativity 

Another important element in this work of analysis is the 
worker's nativity and parents' nationality. In the General 
Group this is treated under two divisions: American-born and 
Foreign-born. In the School History Group, where the analysis 
could be more closely worked out than in the General Group, it 
was found advisable to adopt three groupings : American parent- 
age, American of Foreign Parentage, and Foreign-born. Each 
of these groupings was further subdivided into Number of Work- 
ers, Earnings, Years at Present Work. 

Length of Service 

In estimating length of service, if the prior position had been 
in a similar line of work, the length of time in the prior position 
was added to the length of time in the present position. This 
was justified by its effect on the individual, for any one coming 
to a new position in a similar line of work customarily receives 
a wage equivalent to what she has been earning; if from an un- 
related work, she is taken on as a learner in the new work at a 
learner's wage. 

Percentage Calculations 

The percentage calculations of all groups considered are based 
on: 

(a) the total number of workers; 

(b) the total earnings; 

(c) total years' experience of the entire group. 

Wage Index: Experience Index: Age Index 

Resolution of these figures into some unit form became neces- 
sary, in order to work with expedition, exactness and clarity. A 
wage and experience index was evolved from the percentage 
calculations of the number of workers in each group dealt with 
in relation to the earnings of this group and its years of 
experience. The ratio of the percentage number in each group 
to the percentage earnings of that group, or the percentage earn- 
ings divided by the percentage of workers, gives one figure, called 
the Wage Index. The ratio of group percentage of workers to 
the percentage of their years at present work gives the Experience 



36 Wage Worth of School Training 

Index, and the ratio of number of workers to their age gives the 
Age Index. 

Age Index divided by Experience Index gives Age-Experience 
Ratio. 

Wage Index divided by Experience Index gives a Wage-Expe- 
rience Ratio, a figure which expresses the value of groups in their 
wage-earning power compared with the length of service required 
to acquire skill sufficient to attain and hold that wage. It is 
a measure of the relative worth of any given unit, whether group or 
individual, to the average of the whole group. 

The ratio of the whole group to its earnings is, of course, 1, as 
is the ratio of the group to its experience, 1, and to its age, 1. 
This figure 1 is the unit of measure from which each group con- 
sidered deviates in its Earning Value, Experience Period, and 
Age. The unit 1 is equivalent to the group average in earnings, 
years at present work, and age; this average is obtained by divid- 
ing the total earning, total experience, and total age, each by the 
total number of workers. 

The advantage of the Wage and Experience Index is its im- 
mediate comparative expression in one figure of the earning power 
of any group of workers on the basis of the average for the entire 
group, and, likewise, the comparative expression of the length of 
service of the group to attain and hold that earning power. 

When the age of the workers is of interest, an Age Index is 
equally usable in statistical calculations. The convenience of a 
one-figure valuation for the correlation of abilities or qualities 
of students has led educators to devise methods of obtaining such 
coefficients, thereby enabling statistical comparisons to be made. 
This method of obtaining wage, experience and age indices was 
employed to estimate readily and at a glance the comparative 
wage and experience worth of groups of wage-earners. Its value 
as a method to business management would depend on a desire 
to know, with greater reliance on facts and in greater detail 
than is now shown by the payroll, just what economic value is 
represented by groups of workers, whether by nationality, de- 
partment, age, or length of service, or by any other grouping of 
specific interest. Indices or ratios express in terse form group 
valuations on any line of inquiry that can be reduced to figures. 
The most reliable figure in all these calculations results from the 
estimates based on large groups. At the extremes of all these 



Statistical Procedure 37 

lists of groupings, the numbers dwindle so as to twist the resulting 
figures from their natural course. 

Terms of Comparative Value: Medians, Modes, 
Averages, etc. 

Comparative values, expressed in terms of medians, modes, 
averages, middle fifty per cents, and range of wage period, are 
presented in tables. 

The modal wage figure seems to be the most accurate summa- 
tion or estimate of a wage situation since it is the figure at which 
are grouped the largest number of wage-earners. It represents 
what usually is termed average wage-earning ability, but which 
is, in fact, modal wage-earning ability. What the largest group 
can earn is the best estimate of earning ability for what we think 
of as the average individual worker. This modal figure is ob- 
tained at a glance; it does not comprise the lowest or the highest, 
which are representative only of exceptional effort and ability, 
or lack of either, or both. 

The basis of calculation in this inquiry is the average of the 
whole as to earnings and experience. From this average, each 
group deviates according to the average of its earnings and the 
average of its experience. This whole inquiry is an extended 
calculation in averages. 

Statistical workers of recent years have inclined to the use of 
medians and modes in preference to the traditional and time- 
honored average. The statistician may justify his preference 
with ample proof that the choice of medians and modes insures 
a more accurate estimate of a statistical situation. Neverthe- 
less, the business man and general reader know the meaning of 
an "average" and use it in its accepted sense, while "medians" 
and "modes" are terms unknown to them. The "average" 
has the value of expressing part ownership in the whole borne by 
each element. It may be a figure which represents no one par- 
ticular wage or other classification under analysis. This fact 
implies a quality of fictitiousness which the exact statistician 
abhors, but has the value of individual contribution to the whole, 
as a part is borne by each unit in the final figure. By virtue of 
the vitality of this cooperativeness and general comprehension 
of the term "average," it follows that averages are still of dom- 
inant usefulness in statistical studies. 



VII 
NEED FOR DATA 

Educators know that the largest number of pupils leave school 
at the fourteenth year of age and at the seventh grade in school. 
The aggregation of figures in this inquiry bears out this general 
fact — an indication that these replies as to school history have 
been practically correct. 

School authorities have not been in the habit of following their 
human product into the wage-earning world. At various times, 
we read and. hear that the majority of women- workers are earn- 
ing but six and seven dollars a week and that this is not a living 
wage; but no one in particular knows how much or how little 
schooling or experience these girls have had to bring its influence 
to bear on their wage-earning capacity. 

This inquiry sought the relationship between wage-earning 
and school training. It presents the results from 515 women- 
workers in textile factories. It does not generalize for other groups 
or for women-workers at large in the factory field. It is not a 
typical group of workers, since it is not dealing with any one 
field in its entirety. It has taken the replies from workers where 
they were obtainable in the textile factory field, and has merged 
the results from workers in silk manufacturing and white goods 
workers. To have given results separately of the four factories 
which allowed the questionnaires to be distributed would have 
been to divide the numbers beyond the figure where they 
would have had usefulness for statistical data. The merging of 
the results was justified by the comparability of the status of 
the workers from whom they were obtained. The quality of the 
women-workers in the silk manufacturing field, so far as the 
inquirer could make out from observation and questioning, was 
on a par with that of the muslin needle workers; the nationalities 
were evenly distributed; a careful examination of the written 
replies showed no features that were more prominent in one 
factory than in another; the same kind of worker showed a will- 
ingness to reply to the inquiry blank in one factory as in another. 
Illiterates, among whom there is greater human variety than 

38 



Need for Data 39 

among grammar school prepared students, naturally are not 
represented at all in this written inquiry. The procedure of this 
inquiry resulted in a natural selection of the worker who was 
sufficiently interested in the explanation accompanying the 
inquiry blank to lend the assistance of her replies to the inquiry. 
It selected the girl who had had some schooling and who was in 
cooperative relation with her employer. Yet it may be presumed 
that much of the same educational preparation is back of the 
other literate workers who were not willing to reply. These 
returns — 617 in all and 515 with school training — are representa- 
tive of many times their number. 

Shortcomings and Deficiencies 

The most serious handicap to an extensive and even to a 
slight inquiry touching wages and personal facts about workers 
is long-standing and natural suspicion on their part of any in- 
vestigation concerning them. Employers have seldom justified 
claims to further information from their workers than mere 
reference to prior employment. Hence, difficulty had to be 
overcome at the outset in putting the questionnaire to the 
workers. No requirements about making replies could be 
insisted upon. In some cases, the spirit of unrest among workers 
made even the suggestion of an inquiry inadvisable. Again, 
the illiteracy of many workers reduced the possibilities of obtain- 
ing written answers. On the close margin of time and wage 
existing in many factories, the extra work and time required to 
put through an inquiry blank made it too great a personal favor 
to ask of the management. 

The policy of this inquiry was to approach all phases of the 
situation through the management. Outside sources of labor 
or social organizations were disregarded in eliciting information, 
inasmuch as this was obtained from the girl herself and there was 
no reason in any case for misstatement of fact either as to wage, 
schooling or prior employment. The only item subject to even 
slight misrepresentation was age and that only in sporadic cases. 

On the wage basis of this inquiry, authenticity of figures given 
in the replies could be guaranteed only by obtaining them with 
the cordial assent, approval, and aid of the manager. The 
selection was fortuitous, being made without predetermination. 



40 Wage Worth of School Training 

The selected group which is represented by these returns has the 
virtue of wide distribution within the textile industry, represent- 
ing fibres, garments and embroidered goods, including as processes 
every important operation from weaving to high-power speed 
manufacturing. It is not so much typical as representative of 
women-workers in the textile industry. 

An ideal inquiry would be an authorization by school authori- 
ties, managers, and workers to get statistics which would throw 
light on possible and needed cooperation between employment 
and school-training. In this way the preparatory period for the 
wage-earner could be made more directly helpful and suggestive. 

This avowed purpose would secure complete answers from all 
workers in the industry and locality to be analyzed. Through a 
combined organization of industry and school, ways and means 
could be provided to analyze the facts obtained, and on the re- 
sults of which could be based necessary educational, industrial 
and legislative procedures requisite to enlightened progress in 
scientific and national wage-setting standards. Without the 
cooperation and initiative of industry itself, as represented by 
industrial managers, it is difficult to see how results otherwise 
obtained could be regarded except with a certain degree of well- 
founded suspicion. 

The procedure of getting individual responses to questions is 
impossible where workers are paid on piecework basis, unless 
their noon-hour and after-work hour periods are taken. To do 
this in factories where all kinds of women-workers are together 
is impracticable. 

Replies are made by those who are the best in understanding 
and education. Those of less understanding were not sufficiently 
interested to make an effort to reply even indifferently. 

It is freely recognized that this inquiry may not fairly repre- 
sent the foreign-born workers owing to their hesitancy in reply- 
ing to questions about schooling and to the inherent difficulty of 
obtaining true and comprehending answers. Whatever error may 
be conveyed by replies is probably not so much in fact as in 
understatement of fact. 

A detrimental feature was the optional character of the re- 
plies. On an optional basis, selecting those caring even enough 
to make a reply, a considerable amount of indifference -is bound 
to be present. This indifference did not tend to lead to mis- 



Need for Data 41 

statements of salary and length of time at their present work, 
because the workers knew these replies were to go through the 
hands of their forewoman or factory manager. The facts which 
the management of the factory knew about these girls, such as 
their wage and the length of time they had worked for them, 
thus had the necessary corroboration to make them correct. 

As these replies had to be written as well as understood by the 
worker, only those reading and writing the English language 
could reply. So many illiterate foreign women-workers are 
employed in factories that replies written by the workers, how- 
ever numerous, could never be typical of the working force of 
to-day. 

Limitation in numbers affects results. Only where the 
numbers in groups are large can there be the greatest degree of 
accuracy. The upper and lower end of any series of figures, 
where numbers are small, must be taken merely as extremes. 



GENERAL GROUP 



I 

TRAINING FOR HAND AND MACHINE WORK 

The order of questions on the inquiry blank has been followed 
in presenting the tabulation of the replies of the entire group of 
617. Statistical treatment is given then on selected phases 
which seemed vital to the inquiry and which permitted math- 
ematical calculation. 

Wherever the tabulation of results readily expresses all the 
facts, no further explanation of the tables is given. Only 
such points are commented upon as might escape the atten- 
tion of the reader. 





Girls' 


TABLE I 

Nativity and Parents' 


Nationality 






617 Records 






No. of 


Place of 


No. of 


Father's' 


No. of 


Mother's 


Girls 


Birth 


Girls 


Nationality 


Girls 


Nationality 


439 


America 


178 


German 


173 


German 


62 


Russia 


110 


American 


121 


American 


27 


Germany 


81 


Russian 


80 


Russian 


22 


Hungary 


70 


Irish 


65 


Irish 


15 


Austria 


27 


Italian 


28 


Italian 


9 


England 
Italy 


25 


English 


25 


English 


8 


21 


Hungarian 


22 


Hungarian 


7 


Belgium 


18 


Hollander 


16 


Hollander 


6 


Switzerland 


15 


Swiss 


14 


Swiss 


5 


Ireland 


14 


Polish 


14 


Polish 


5 


Poland 


10 


Austrian 


11 


Austrian 


5 


Roumania 


9 


French 


8 


French 


3 


Holland 


8 


No answer 


8 


No answer 


2 


France 


8 


Scotch 


8 


Scotch 


1 


Sweden 


8 


Austrian 


8 


Austrian 


1 


Canada 


4 


Swedish 


4 


Swedish 







4 


Jewish 


4 


Jewish 


617 




4 


Roumanian 


4 


Roumanian 






3 


Belgian 


3 


Belgian 











1 


Canadian 



617 



617 



The inquiry on this subject was for the purpose of finding 
influences of the early training of the girl on her later wage- 
earning career. Table II shows the replies received; 62.2 per 
cent of the total number had no training at home; 12.3 per cent 

45 



46 Wage Worth of School Training 

made no reply to the home-training question; 25.5 per cent 
reported that they had received some kind of technical hand- 
training at home. To the school-training question 58.3 per cent 
had no training at school; 41.7 per cent of the total number had 
received school-training in some kind of technical work. If all 
these workers had been educated in our various public schools of 
to-day, the record would have been more nearly 100 per cent as 
having had hand or machine-training in the schools. What the 
effect of such mechanical training, as is now being given, will be 
on the next generation of wage-earners, remains for later surveys 









TABLE II 






Previous Hand and Machine Training of Workers at Home or School 


*i 


00 

a. 




617 Records 


"§. 


il 


65 It 

4J|".§S.i 

^ a-fe 




ft- 


Kind 
Home 


of Training 

School 


so 

o 

fe; 


Per Cent 

Total % 
porting s< 
training 




384 


62.2 


None 


None 


360 


58.3 




76 


12.3 


Machine Sewing Handwork 


184 


29.9 




27 


4.4 


Housework 


Cooking and Sewing 


12 


1.9 




21 


3.4 


Embroidery 


Embroidery 


19 


3.1 




15 


2.4 


Dressmaking 


Millinery 


1 


.2 


25.5% 


8 


1.3 


All Kinds 


All Kinds 


14 


2.2 41.7% 




5 


.8 


Cooking 


Cooking 


12 


1.9 




4 


.7 


Knitting • 


Knitting 


4 


.7 




1 


.2 


Lace Making 


Lace Making 
Stenography 


4 
4 


.7 
.7 




76 


12.3 


No reply 


Bookkeeping 


3 


.4 



617 100% 617 100% 

to determine. Certainly standards of work can be established 
in school-training which will increase earning power. Training 
can be arranged for the girl studying in public schools in culti- 
vating dexterity and industrial-mindedness as will assure to 
American girls the high quality of French and Italian needle 
women and hand-workers. 

The trend of needle industries to-day seems to be for a special- 
ized and machine product. Custom trade is diminishing before 
the excellence of ready-made manufactured garments. We are 
so governed by present-day modes of fashion as to be unable to 
predict the requirements for factory work of to-morrow. At all 
times, standards of appreciation determine value of product, and 
value of time spent in making product. A study of industries, 



General Group 47 

which now fill the producing world with the hum of machinery 
and keep workers of all grades of ability at work, would be en- 
lightening by the understanding it would give of materials and 
time required to make them, and of work conditions under 
which they are made. Such study would result in knowledge of 
the relationship of workers to each other, to the article produced, 
and to its place in the social economy. Studies of this nature 
are now being conducted in a few progressive private schools and 
are a substantial informational preparation of pupils for entrance 
into the world of production. 

Industry is so specialized to-day, and promises to be much 
more so in the future, that preparation for any operative line 
seems time and money wasted. Directors of education should 
endeavor to find out fundamental methods which are basic to 
the specialized operations and should classify and arrange them 
for general instruction, rather than establish trade classes in 
lines where the trade is fast disappearing. Industry now is 
characterized by machines and operations, not by trades. It is 
informative to the school-pupil to know the progress of raw 
material to finished product, but knowledge does not better a 
girl's chances for employment in the subdivided industrial process 
of to-day, unless she has been trained in self-mastery, dexterity, 
and application. Thus when she becomes a wage-earner she 
can undertake with profit to herself and her employer the 
specialized operation which will be her industrial work, and by 
this broader training be enabled to transfer without wage loss 
from one operation to another. 



48 Wage Worth of School Training 





II 






AGE OF WORKERS 






TABLE III 






Age of Workers 




Workers 


Per cent 


Age 


3 


.5 


14 


16 


2.5 


15 


53 


8.6 


16 


116 


18.8 


17 


94 


15.2 


18 


62 


10.0 


19 


54 


18.7 


20 


36 


5.8 


21 


26 


4.2 


22 


18 


2.9 


23 


14 


2.3 


24 


23 


3.7 


25 


3 


.5 


26 


10 


1.6 


27 


4 


.6 


28 


6 


.9 


29 


7 


1.1 


30 


3 


.5 


31 


4 


.6 


32 


7 


1.1 


33 


1 


.2 


34 


5 


.8 


35 


3 


.5 


36 


4 


.6 


37 


6 


.9 


38 


5 


.8 


39 


6 


.9 


40 


4 


.6 


41 


5 


.8 


42 


2 


.3 


43 


6 


.9 


45 


1 


.2 


47 


1 


.2 


49 


5 


.8 


50 


1 


.2 


53 


2 


.3 


55 


1 


.2 


59 


tl 617 


100 per cent 





Median Age 18 years, 5 months. 

Average Age 21 years, 8 months. 

Modal Age 17 years. 

Middle 50 per cent of workers between 17 years, 4 months and 

23 years. 



General Group 



49 



•in 



*JU 



L.hhlllhUhll 



lit 



« I 



■ii% 



•.67. 



-?% ^ 



•6% I 



-n 









Jo?.: 



50 



Wage Worth of School Training 



III 
NUMBER OF YEARS IN SCHOOL 







TABLE 


IV 






Number 


of Years in School 
560 Records 






Public 






Private 


Workers 


School 




Workers 


School 


57 


No answer 




57 


No answer 


62 


years 




457 


years 


8 


1 " 




13 


1 " 


11 


2 " 




14 


2 " 


8 


3 " 




7 


3 " 


15 


4 " 




9 


4 " 


28 


5 " 




6 


5 " 


64 


6 " 




11 


6 " 


118 


7 " 




18 


7 " 


172 


8 " 




15 


8 " 


71 


9 " 




7 


9 " 


3 


11 " 




1 
2 


11 " 

12 " 


Total 617 






617 





498 reported Public School attendance. 
14.2 per cent left after spending 9 years in Grammar School. 
34.5 per cent left after spending 8 years in Grammar School. 
14.2 per cent left after spending 7 years in Grammar School. 

90 reported Private School attendance. 

16.6 per cent left after spending 8 years. 

20.0 per cent left after spending 7 years. 



General Group 51 





IV 




GRADE AT LEAVING SCHOOL 




TABLE V 




Grade at Leaving School 




515 Records 


Number of 




Girls 


Per Cent Grade 


102 


No answer 


1 


.2 2A 


5 


.9 3A 


1 


.2 3B 


11 


2.1 4A 


2 


.4 4B 


24 


4.7 5A 


14 


2.7 5B 


57 


11.0 6A 


32 


6.0 6B 


103 


20.0 7 A 


79 


15.3 7B 


81 


15.7 8A 


33 


6.4 8B 


60 


11.6 Graduate 


11 


2.1 1st Yr. High School 


1 


.2 2nd " " 



617 



Median grade at leaving school is the grade above which and 
below which fifty per cent of the workers are placed. Modal 
grade is the grade at which the largest number leave. 

Median Grade at leaving school 7B. 

Average Grade at leaving school 7A. 

Modal Grade at leaving school 7A. 

Middle 50 per cent leave school between 6B and 8A. 



52 Wage Worth of School Training 







V 




AGE AT 


LEAVING SCHOOL 






TABLE VI 






Age 


at Leaving School 
563 Records 




Workers 




Per cent 


Years Old 


54 






No answer 


1 




.2 


9 


4 




.7 


10 


5 




.9 


11 


35 




6.2 


12 


52 




9.2 


13 


308 




54.7 


14 


102 




18.0 


15 


43 




7.6 


16 


9 




1.6 


17 


4 




.7 


18 



617 

Median Age at leaving school 14 years and 7 months. 

Average Age at leaving 14 years and 3 months. 

Modal Age at leaving 14 years. 

Middle fifty per cent between 13 years 2 months and 

15 years 2 months. 

Combined with the records of Table V, the middle fifty per 
cent leave in the 6B grade at 13 years and 2 months and the 8 A 
grade at 15 years and 2 months. 

The largest group leave school in 7 A grade, and are 14 years of 
age. 

This record bears out the general statement that the majority 
of children leave school in the seventh grade at fourteen years 
of age, showing that these records are representative in their 
replies of the general facts attained by other inquiries. 



General Group 



53 



TABLE VII 

Range op Age of Workers by Present Wage, Medians, Modes, Aver- 
ages, Middle 50 Per cent — 617 Records. Coefficient of Correlation 
Between Wage and Age — .439 



Wage 




S|3 

5*5 


Medians 


Modes 


Averages 


Middle 50 Per 
cent 


Range 
of Age 




^ 


£|> 


Yr. 


Mo. 


Yr. Mo. 


Yr. 


Mo. 


Yr. Mo, Yr. 


Mo. 


Years 


$17.00 


1 


.16 




















45 


16.00 


1 


.16 




















42 


15.00 


4 


.64 


24 






24 




28 


6 


19 


6 


30-18 


14.00 


8 


1.3 


25 




25 


28 




33 


6 


22 




43-20 


13.00 


6 


.97 


20 


6 


18 


22 


6 


25 




19 




33-18 


12.00 


24 


3.9 


20 




18 


22 


7 


24 


4 


18 


3 


45-17 


11.00 


25 


4.05 


25 




24,21,20,18 


26 


5 


36 


6 


19 


3 


45-17 


10.50 


1 


.16 




















24 


10.00 


65 


10.53 


21 




27 


25 


4 


29 


6 


19 




50-16 


9.50 


1 


.16 




















23 


9.00 


55 


8.91 


22 


6 


18 


25 


6 


29 




19 


5 


50-16 


8.50 


2 


.32 






19 


20 












21-19 


8.00 


92 


14.91 


19 


4 


18 


24 




26 


8 


19 


4 


55-16 


7.50 


5 


.81 


23 






21 


5 


24 




18 




25-17 


7.00 


92 


14.91 


18 


4 


18 


20 


10 


24 


3 


17 


1 


41-16 


6.50 


21 


3.4 


18 


7 


18,17 


18 


5 


19 


i 

2 


17 


5 


22-16 


6.00 


80 


12.96 


18 




17 


18 


61 


19 


9 


16 


3 


59-15 


5.50 


13 


2.11 


18 




19,18 


18 


5i 


18 


6 


17 


9 


21-17 


5.00 


64 


10.4 


16 


6§ 


17 


17 


3f 


17 


5 


15 


10 


22-15 


4.50 


























to 


57 


9.23 


16 


2 


17 


17 


HI 


16 


10 


15 


3 


55-14 


1.50 




























617 


100% 















54 





Wage Worth 


of School Training 










VI 








MARRIAGE 


AMONG WORKERS 




TABLE 


VIII 






Marriage among Workers 






Years 






Years 


Workers 


Married 




Workers 


Married 


563 


No reply 




1 


15 years 


9 


1 year 




2 


16 ■ 




3 


2 years 




3 


17 ' 




2 


3 « 






1 


18 ' 




5 


5 ' 






1 


19 • 




1 


6 ' 






1 


20 ' 




2 


7 ' 






1 


22 • 




1 


8 ' 






2 


23 ' 




3 


9 ' 






1 


24 « 




4 


10 ' 






1 


25 « 




2 


11 ' 






1 


26 « 




2 


12 « 






2 


27 ' 




2 


14 ' 






1 

Total 617 


35 ' 





In answer to the question " If married, how many years?" of 
the 563 who failed to respond, there may have been many who 
did not care to answer this question. This was such a personal 
question, at least so considered by workers, that the replies can 
only be taken for what they are worth under these conditions. 
The 54 who said they were married and gave the number of 
years are sufficiently accurate to be worth noting. The largest 
group, 9, had been married one year; the median number falls 
on 10 years. That is, there were 27 who had been married from 
1 to 10 years and 27 who had been married from 10 to 35 years. 
The average number of years married among 54 is 7 years. 

These three different figures, falling at three different numbers 
of years married in this group of 54 reporting the married state, 
show the difference in the results of these estimates made of a 
group of figures. 

The modal figure, which, in this case, falls at one year of 
married life, represents the majority number of years married 
among these workers, because 9 fall on that year; the next largest 
groups being 5 at 5 years; 4 at 10 years; 3 each at 2 years, 9 years 
and 17 years of married life. But the 9 group, married 1 year, 
shows the prevalent length of married life among the whole group 
of 54, while the average number of years married is 7. According 
to these records, 7 years, with its neighboring 6 years and 8 years, 
has only one and two actual records. 



General Group 



55 



VII 
THE WORKERS AND THEIR WORK 



TABLE IX: How Work Was Obtained 



250 

114 

104 

66 

44 

38 

1 

617 



applied in person 
were recommended 
through a friend 
no answer 
advertisement 
sister or relative 
convent 



This question was asked, in order to find out the prevailing 
modes of obtaining present work. The numbers have been 
collated and are given exactly as on the inquiry blanks. 

TABLE X: Present Occupation — 542 Records 



Workers 


Operation 


Workers 


Operation 


49 


Glove tipping 


4 


Chemise operating 


44 


Operating 


4 


Tucking 


41 


Examining 


4 


Closing 


25 


Trimming 


4 


Brosser pointing 


25 


Drawer operating 


3 


Tacking 


24 


Pressing 


3 


Finishing 


24 


Warping 


3 


Making up 


23 


Scalloping 


3 


Picking 


21 


Embroidering 


3 


Sewing 


20 


Plaiting 


3 


Doubling 


19 


Winding 


3 


Clasping 


17 


Seaming 


3 


Printing gloves 


17 


Princess slips 


3 


Knitting 


16 


Skirt operating 


3 


Scroll work 


16 


Gegaufing 


3 


Packing-boxing 


15 


Corset cover operating 


3 


Sleeve setting 


14 


Forchetting 


3 


Scallop cutting 


12 


Pointing 


2 


Zigzag fancy work 


11 


Hemming and felling 


2 


Finishing 


10 


Gown operating 


2 


Lace running 


10 


Marking 


2 


Thumb examining 


10 


Ribboning 




Steaming 


9 


Fore lady 




Thread finishing 


9 


Inserting 




Stock girl 


8 


Quilling 




Handwork 


8 


Hosiery tipping 




Kiling 


8 


Blocking 




Handkerchief hemming 


7 


Lacing 




Night clerical work 


7 


Ruffle-setting 




Sample trimming 


6 


Night operator instructor 




Turning yokes 


6 


Hemstitching 




Folding 


6 


Fancy work 




Floor lady 


5 


Button sewing 




Stamping 



617 



56 Wage Worth of School Training 

These 617 girls were working on 66 operations. 

The largest group reporting on any one operation comprised 
49. This was at glove tipping, the operation of putting on the 
extra layer of material on the finger tips. 

Next in number was 44 at operating, which means running a 
single needle power machine. This was a general reply as to the 
present operation made by many who did not care to further 
specify their work. 

The next group is 41 at examining, the work of looking over 
the article at a certain stage of its manufacture to make sure of 
its preparedness for the next operation. This occurs all along 
the line of manufacture to insure the stoppage of the article if it 
is imperfect or does not meet the standard set by the factory. 

The next group is 25 at trimming, which, in some places, 
means cutting off raw material from an edge; in others, it means 
preparing trimming, by sewing together strips of lace, embroidery, 
etc., to be used on the body of the article made elsewhere in the 
factory. 

The next group is 24 at pressing, which means ironing, folding, 
and inserting tissue paper in the finished article preparatory to 
boxing. 

Another group of 24 is at warping. This process is carried on 
in the manufacture of the thread into fabric; and so on down the 
list in decreasing numbers to 1 each at handwork, stamping, 
steaming and a few other simple operations. All of these are 
highly specialized operations. This specialization enables the 
most inexperienced worker, the most narrowly equipped young 
woman to go into a factory, take her place at a machine, and, 
with a minimum of instruction either by the forewoman or, more 
likely, by the girl next to whom she is placed, as stated in the 
records, learn how to do her work in anywhere from fifteen 
minutes to six days. 





General 


Group 




TABLE XI 






Apprentice Wage 




478 Records 




otJccts 






Apprentice Wage 








Per Week 


139 






No answer. 


54 






Piecework. 


36 






Nothing. 


2 






Paid to learn. 


10 






$1.00 


2 






1.20 


8 






1.50 


1 






1.95 


43 






2.00 


1 






2.15 


1 






2.25 


40 






2.50 


2 






2.75 


1 






2.85 


83 






3.00 


37 






3.50 


1 






3.70 


1 






3.80 


58 






4.00 


1 






4.40 


3 






4.50 


42 






5.00 


3 






5.50 


1 






5.60 


22 






6.00 


3 






6.50 


16 






7.00 


1 






7.20 


4 






8.00 


1 






9.00 



57 



617 



478 records were made on this topic, 386 received wages. 
Of that number: 

Median apprentice wage is $3.00. 

Average apprentice wage is $4.19. 

Modal apprentice wage is $3.00. 

139 did not answer this question. 

54 replied that they were paid by piecework, meaning that 
they were put on the work at the regular rate per dozen, 
and were credited for the number of pieces turned out up to the 
standard. 

Speed of the workers shows in their record at the end of the 
week. In many places, the apprentice girls, or learners, as they 



58 Wage Worth of School Training 

are called, would make so little while learning that they have to 
be given a minimum wage, which minimum wage varies with the 
factory and with the department in the factory. In some fac- 
tories, it is customary to give a uniform minimum wage while 
learning. High-class places in non-textile lines give a minimum 
wage of $6.00 in some departments, $7.00 in others, and $8.00 in 
others, until that wage is earned on the piecework basis. In the 
high pressure textile factories, where the margin for all concerned 
is very small, where the employer is still on a precarious margin 
with regard to reputation and profits, this minimum wage or 
learner's wage may be anywhere from no pay at all, as is reported 
by 36 of the records, to $1.50, $2.00, and so on up. Abroad, 
learners often pay to learn the needle arts. Two of these records 
give that report, but that practice has not obtained in this 
country except in some technical schools. 

When a worker said she learned in one day the process at which 
she became a regular wage-earner, it meant that, after one day 
of practising, she was put on the regular piecework rate. She 
was not put on this regular rate unless her output of articles up 
to the standard was sufficient to return to her the standard rate 
of that department. In some of the needle industries the mini- 
mum piecework wage is $5.00. The giving of work to learners 
is the excuse of managers for wages less than $5.00, a fact of 
importance to minimum wage legislation. 



General Group 
TABLE XII 
Days Learning Present Operation 



59 



Workers 

101 
79 
26 
31 

3 
178 

4 

1 
123 

1 
13 

1 
34 

2 

4 

1 

6 

1 

3 

1 

3 

1 

617 



516 Records 




Days 

No answer 

1 day 

2 days 

3 " 



12 

15 

18 

20 

24 

30 

36 

44 

48 

50 

72 

120 

144 

300 



■mp I 10 20 3,} no so 60 70 so <?o /oo no no /♦* 30a Va.ys 

Chart 2. — Curve of Apprentice Days at Present Operation 
516 Records 



60 Wage Worth of School Training 

Of the 516 answers the order of grouping is: 

178 6 days. 

123 12 days. 

97 1 day. 

34 24 days. 

31 3 days. 

This will show the general trend of the apprenticeship period, 
which is brief because of specialization in operation. 

There are several interpretations of the social and economic 
bearing of high specialization in the manufacturing line of pro- 
duction. Economical to the employer and the public, it means 
the assembling of quantities of one kind of work under one roof; 
the simplifying of administration to control this specialized line 
of business; and minute acquaintance with every detail of this 
specialty, which means better control of output and the greater 
possibility of employing a good grade of help to turn out product. 
The manager knows exactly what to require of his workers. 
The matter of teaching them how to do the work is simple; in 
fact, in the majority of cases, the newcomer's next-door neighbor 
is practically her only teacher. 

In the case of the non-English-speaking foreigner, the ties of 
nationality are so strong in this strange country that the Ameri- 
canized foreigner will offer to take charge of her newly arrived 
friend, show her how to do the work she herself has been doing 
for some time. She will do this at the expense of her own pay- 
envelope, as most of the work is done on piecework basis; thus 
the factory manager is relieved of the necessity of teaching these 
new employes. This work arrangement which has simplified 
the work of teaching to the maximum is economical and prof- 
itable to the employing firm. 

Any operation which may net $10.00 a week to the diligent 
operator within the course of a year or a year and a half when 
this operator may not know one word of the English language, 
is certainly a highly simplified operation; but it requires much 
physical endurance to concentrate upon quantities of output, 
oftentimes in a devitalized air, for at least 9 hours a day, 6 days 
in a week, or 10 hours for 5 days and 4 hours on Saturday. 

Many foreign women, whose possibility of interests outside 
of their work is extremely limited, increase the number of dozens 



General Group 61 

for their days' work by taking only fifteen minutes for lunch 
seated at the machine, thus saving the noon hour margin of time, 
which the others use in ways beneficial to their interests and 
their health. This kind of concentration requires physical 
strength and endurance which the illiterate foreigner brings from 
outdoor life in her native country, and is the economic advantage 
which the simplified power-machine gives to the foreigner. 
Shortening of the lunch period is forbidden by recent legislation 
in New York but not work during the lunch hour. 

Our American girl, with her education and contact with the 
enlightenment that American life affords her, cannot and will not 
apply herself to this degree. She has her own interests, physical 
and social, more at heart; her range of view is a little longer than 
the foreigner's, and this impels her to work less intensely — less in- 
dustriously, many managers will say — than the illiterate foreigner. 
But, again, this very mental alertness of the American worker to 
her own interests reacts to her individual benefit and likewise to 
the benefit of the firm. She does not stay at her work as long 
as the foreigner, but she is alert enough to shorten her ways of 
work. She puts into her work, when she does work, an amount 
of mentality which tells in the output, for the figures show that 
proportionately to the time she spends at her work, her output 
is greater than the literate foreigner's. It does not compare in 
bulk to the illiterate foreigner's output. No statistics, however, 
are as yet available on the length of the illiterate foreigner's 
endurance at machine-operating work. It would be a valuable 
inquiry to learn the length of service of the illiterate and the 
amount of her wage, month by month, throughout the course of 
the first few years of her economic life in this country. 

Suffice it to say that the majority of far-seeing manufacturers, 
while recognizing the earning capacity of the illiterate foreigner 
through her unremitting industry, also admit the limitations of 
her illiteracy in the difficulty of giving directions to her; of her 
subjection to undesirable influences brought to bear upon her 
outside of the factory; of the different standards of personal 
habits, which frequently interfere greatly with the comfort of 
better educated and better informed neighbors in the factory. 

These considerations impel progressive manufacturers expressly 
to prefer the American worker, even though she be less permanent 
at her work and does not take away, as the result of her piece- 



62 Wage Worth of School Training 

work labor, as much money at the end of the week. Her stand- 
ards of work are higher; her standards of personal care are better; 
her ethical relations with her companions and employers are 
better understood and can be dealt with in the language of the 
country and on the basis of the traditions of this country. If 
it is immediate output the employer is looking for, he gets that 
from the illiterate foreigner; but if it is a progressive business 
policy which he is pursuing, the American or American-born 
worker is the one he desires. 



Household Workers 

The claim of those who have been inconvenienced in securing 
household help is that the factory has taken workers away from 
the home. This is an easier and more plausible explanation of 
the dearth of help in the household than is sustained by fact, for 
the worker who has been drawn into the factory is, in the majority 
of cases, the kind of worker from whose services the home would 
not benefit. Factory work and housework are as widely different 
as the poles, which means all the difference in the world. House- 
work is called "monotonous" — a misapplied term. There is 
similarity in its routine from day to day, but the work is subject 
to so much variation that, for the high standard of accomplish- 
ment, such as our American homes demand, a quality of under- 
standing and appreciation is required almost executive in type 
on the part of the domestic. Such ability turned into factory 
work could only find full expression in leadership positions, 
managing work-rooms, lunch-rooms, cleaning problems, etc. 

Monotony 

The disparagement of factory work as "monotonous" has 
come from misplaced workers who have been able to do a variety 
of work, to lead others by laying out work for them and by seeing 
that it is done, but who have been put at one operation in the 
factory and felt the iron chains of it; they have judged its effect 
on all others by its cramping effect upon themselves, and hence 
have called it "the dreaded monotony of factory work." 

With this slashing, wholesale criticism in mind, this inquiry 
made a point of finding out from numbers of diverse workers in 



General Group 



63 



the factory field their feeling on the subject of monotony in their 
work. Almost without exception, the replies were to the effect 
that they objected to being changed to another department which 
had even a slightly different work; when they were used to a 
certain operation, they wanted to remain at that all of their 
wage-earning life. Only in a few cases did any of the replies 
express desire for change of work. Frequently, the fluctuation 
in the size of orders in the different departments necessitates on 
the part of the management a change of workers, and there is 
often dissatisfaction at such changes. 

A complex mentality wants and needs variety of work; the 
simplification of the work in factories has been a godsend to 
thousands of workers who, if it were withdrawn from them by a 
change back to the old order of master-mechanic work, would be 
wholly unable to find a place in the wage-earning world, and 
would perish prematurely from starvation and disease as they 
used to when work-demands were more exacting than in modern 
manufacture. Fortunately, though the old order changeth, we 
evolve along newer and, to the most of us, unforeseen, unpre- 
dictable lines. Therein is a problem for the educator who has 

TABLE XIII 

Medians, Averages, Modes of Appeentice Days 

513 Records 



Wage 


Num- 
ber 


Per 
cent 


Median 


Average 


Mode 


Middle 

50 per 

cent 


Range of 
Period 








Days 


Days 


Days 


Days 


Days 


$17.00 


1 


.2 










12 


15.00 


3 


.5 


12 


56 






144-12 


14.00 


3 


.6 


12 


12f 






24-2 


13.00 


5 


1.0 


6 


8 






12-2 


12.00 


19 


3.7 


6 


91 


6 


12-4A 


24-| 


11.00 


18 


3.5 


12 


12 


12 


18-6 


24-1 


10.00 


49 


9.6 


12 


23 


12 


24-6 


300-1 


9.00 


36 


7.0 


6 


37 


6 


12-3 


600-1 


8.00 


71 


13.8 


10 


17 


18 


22-4 


300-1 


7.00 


88 


17.2 


5 


6i 


6 


7-2 


48-i 


6.00 


95 


18.5 


5 


6 


6 


12-2 


30-i 


5.00 


71 


13.8 


6 


9 


6 


16-3 


72-5 min. 


$4.50-1.50 


54 


10.5 


5* 


81 


6 


9-2 


36-1 



64 



Wage Worth of School Training 



to prepare the next generation of workers for he knows not what. 
Under such uncertainties is there any safer, wiser plan than to 
gain from a study of present work processes the fundamental 
methods and manipulations from which to so instruct the present 
generation of pupils in the school as to make it possible for them 
to adapt themselves to whatever may be the prevalent mode of 
work when their wage-earning time comes? 

Table XIII of medians, averages, and modes of Apprentice 
Days has been arranged to show the variation of the apprentice 
period with reference to the present wage. One hundred and four 
did not reply to the question as to number of days learning 
present operation. The largest number of replies, 95 or 18.5 per 
cent, occurs at the $6.00 wage. The longest learning period for 
one of these 95 was 6 weeks, while the shortest was j of a day. 
Only an individual interview with these two workers could 









TABLE 


XIV 










Years at 


Present Work 










605 Records 






Workers 


Years 








Workers 


Years 


12 


No answer 






5 


1 year 10 months 


1 


1 week 








2 


1 


" 11 " 


1 


2 weeks 






56 


2 years 


2 


3 " 








52 


3 


" 


14 


1 month 






48 


4 


" 


40 


2 months 






22 


5 


" 


19 


3 " 








29 


6 


" 


16 


4 " 








11 


7 


" 


16 


5 " 








10 


8 


" 


9 


6 " 








3 


9 


" 


25 


7 " 








10 


10 


" 


15 


8 " 








5 


11 


<< 


17 


9 " 








5 


12 


" 


12 


10 M 








2 


13 


" 


8 


11 " 








6 


14 


(i 


44 


1 year 








5 


15 


a 


4 


1 " 


1 month 




2 


16 


" 


10 


1 " 


2 months 




1 


17 


" 


3 


1 " 


3 ' 






5 


18 


" 


11 


1 " 


4 « 






4 


20 


" 


7 


1 " 


5 ' 






1 


22 


" 


7 


1 " 


6 ' 






1 


24 


" 


24 


1 " 


7 ' 






2 


25 


" 


5 


1 " 


8 ' 






1 


26 


" 


2 




9 ' 






2 
1 

1 


27 
28 
31 
32 


\ 



617 



General Group 



65 



determine the cause for this difference. The slow learner may- 
be unfit for the kind of work at which she now earns $6.00. If 
the operation netting a $6.00 wage can be learned in less than a 
day, all learners requiring much in excess of that are expensive 
to the factory. Intelligent supervision of learners which would 
weed out and direct the effort of the applicants according to 
their responses to the work would be time and money saved 
alike to manager and worker. 

A period of 2 weeks is recorded by those now earning $10.00 
per week, the highest wage given by those replying in any con- 
siderable number to this question. This is a week longer than 
those earning $6.00 required, which would seem to indicate a 
greater general difficulty in mastering the operation which nets 
the higher wage to the worker. 



Chart 3.— Percentage op Workers at Each Year at Present Work 
605 Records 

The General Group, comprising 605 who replied, is complete 
as to wage, age, and years at present work. 

Tables and graphs are based on length of service or experience 
calculated on time at present work plus time at closely allied 
work. 



66 Wage Worth of School Training 

Chart 3 represents the figures in Table XIV. 

Median years at present work If years. 

Modal years at present work 2 years. 

Average years at present work 3j years. 

Middle 50 per cent between f and 4| years. 



TABLE XV 

Medians, Modes, Averages, Middle Fifty Per Cent, Range of Years 
at Present Work by Wage 

605 Records 



















Middle 50 


Range of 




No. of 

Work- 


Per- 


Medians 


Modes 


Averages 


Per Cent 


Service 


Wage 


centage 
of 






































Total 


Yr. 


Mo. 


Yr. 


Yr. 


Mo. 


Yr.Mo. 


Yr.Mo. 


Yr.Mo. 


Yr.Mo. 


$17.00 


1 


.17 
















18 




16.00 


1 


.17 
















27 




15.00 


4 


.66 


6 


6 




6 


6 






10 3 


10 


14.00 


8 


1.32 


6 


9 


11 


6 


4} 


9 6 


3 6 


11 


6 


13.00 


6 


.99 


5 


6 


7 


6 


4 






17 6 


6 


12.00 


24 


3.99 


4 




2-1 


6 




7 


2 


26 


6 


11.00 


25 


4.13 


4 


6 


3 


6 


4 


6 


14 6 


6 


10.50 


1 


.17 
















7 




10.00 


60 


9.92 


3 


7 


2 


5 


6 


7 


2 


25 


3 


9.50 


1 


.17 
















1 




9.00 


54 


8.92 


3 


8 


4 


6 


7 


9 


1 6 


32 


2 


8.50 


2 


.33 








3 


6 






4 


3 


8.00 


91 


15.04 


3 


8 


4 


4 


4 


6 


1 6 


25 


2 


7.50 


5 


.83 






2 


2 


10 






6 


8 


7.00 


90 


14.88 


2 


9 


3 


4 


24 


4 8 


1 6 


28 


H 


6.50 


21 


3.47 


1 


7 


2 


2 


4 


3 6 


1 3 


6 


6 


6.00 


78 


12.9 


1 


6 


2 


2 


1 


2 1 


10 


15 


6 


5.50 


13 


2.15 




10} 


1 


2 


3 


1 1 


9 


2 


U 


5.00 


63 


10.41 




8 


6 


1 


1 


1 1 


3 


5 


1 


4.50 
























to 


57 


9.42 




3} 


6 




6} 


6 


li 


3 


i 


1.50 


























605 


100% 

















Table XV of modes, medians, and averages of years at present 
work according to wage, 605 records replying, shows a $17.00 
wage earned by 18 years of service, while a $1.50 wage is earned 
by the girl at work but a week, yet a $9.00 wage is given to the 
woman who has been at work 32 years, as well as to the woman 
who has been at work 2 years. 



General Group 



67 



Only knowledge of the social and economic background of 
these cases would explain the actual relations between wage and 
length of service. The largest percentage of replies to this 
question was 15 per cent at the $8.00 wage; for this one woman 
worked for 25 years and another for 2 years; the median length 
of service for these 91 workers was 3 years and 8 months, the 
modal 4 years and the average 4 years and 4 months. Fourteen 
per cent was the next largest group of replies at $7.00 per week, 
ranging in length of service from 28 years to 1 year and 9 months. 

Among these 90, the median was 9 months, the modal 3 years, 
and the average 4 years and 3 months. 

The median length of service decreased from 6 years of those 
earning $15.00 per week to 3| months of the group earning 
between $1.50 and $4.50 per week. 

The decrease in the modal length of service is from 11 years 
at $14.00 per week to 6 months in the $1.50 to $4.50 group. 

The modal year seems to express more correctly the wage- 
earning and experience figure than either the median or the 
average. It is the figure at which the largest group occurs and 
the largest grouping of workers would seem to characterize these 
various stages of the worker's progress. It seems a more correct 




3 /*y~ W44U «7<j — ihr" 

Chart 4 



3 *. «" 6 7 S 1 ie ii «. n it if lb /; is i? *» * « « « « >*> « >*"•»■ 

Years at Present Work. 605 Records 



68 Wage Worth of School Training 

estimate of the economic situation to give the figure on which 
the largest grouping falls as typical of that situation than to give 
the figure above and below which the same number falls, such 
as the median represents, or to give the average. The modal 
figure therefore is a more likely figure for the situation now being 
considered. In frequency curves, the peaks are the points that 
strike the observer first. The highest peak is at the modal 
figure so that the modal figure is in harmony with the impression 
which the frequency curve makes on the observer and reader. 
The length of service of workers according to the wage in 
Chart IV shows the modal points to occur at the years in round 
numbers, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 years. This is explained by the tendency 





TABLE XVI 


Present 


Average Wage per Week 




617 Records 


Workers 


Wage 


1 


$1.50 


1 


1.95 


1 


2.00 


1 


2.25 


4 


2.50 


1 


2.80 


3 


3.00 


7 


3.50 


1 


3.60 


24 


4.00 


3 


4.25 


1 


4.40 


9 


4.50 


64 


5.00 


13 


5.50 


80 


6.00 


21 


6.50 


92 


7.00 


5 


7.50 


92 


8.00 


2 


8.50 


55 


9.00 


1 


9.50 


65 


10.00 


1 


10.50 


25 


11.00 


24 


12.00 


6 


13.00 


8 


14.00 


4 


15.00 


1 


16.00 


1 


17.00 



617 



General Group 



69 



of replies to fall on the round or even number, rather than on the 
more correct intermediate number which may be troublesome to 
calculate. At $8.00 the modal experience is prominently at 4 
years; at $7.00 it is 3 years; at $6.00, 2 years; at $5.00, £ year. 
This corresponding decrease of wage and experience obtains 
only below the $8.00 wage. The most reliable statistics are 
obtained from the greatest number of replies, hence, no deductions 
are made from the few numbers at the top of the wage list. 



WAGE 

is i 



5.50 



4.50 

4.40 ■ 

4-.2S 

4 



8.80, 
Z.50 

a. 

2 k 



- ? 

o K * <f °° «» f * X 

Chakt 5. — Percentage op Workers at Each Wage. 617 Records 



The 617 complete answers as to Average Wage per week at 
present work give: 

Median wage $6 . 90. 

Average wage 7 . 56. 

Modal wage 7.00 and $8.00. 

Middle 50 per cent of workers fall 
between 5.63 and 9.33. 



70 Wage Worth of School Training 







TABLE XVI 


Number 


and Percentage of Wob 






617 Records 


Wage 


No. 


Per Cent 


$17.00 


1 


.16 


16.00 


1 


.16 


15.00 


4 


.64 


14.00 


8 


1.30 


13.00 


6 


.97 


12.00 


24 


3.89 


11.00 


25 


4.05 


10.50 


1 


.16 


10.00 


65 


10.53 


9.50 


1 


.16 


9.00 


55 


8.91 


8.50 


2 


.32 


8.00 


92 


14.91 


7.50 


5 


.81 


7.00 


92 


14.92 


6.50 


21 


3.40 


6.00 


80 


12.96 


5.50 


13 


2.10 


5.00 


64 


10.40 


4.50 


9 


1.45 


4.00 


28 


4.53 


3.50 


8 


1.30 


3.00 


3 


.48 


2.50 


5 


.81 


2.00 


2 


.32 


1.50 


2 


.32 


4.00 






to 


57 


9.24 


1.50 







No. Per Cent 



66 10.70 

56 9.08 
94 15.23 
97 15.72 

101 16.37 

77 12.48 

37 6.00 

11 1.78 

7 1.13 

2 .32 

57 9.24 



General Group 



71 



1 


p 




2 






3 
1.80 










4., Ml 




6 

6 




V 
8 
9 
10 
11 
















13 


wmm 




14 






15 


m 




16 


■ 




17 


■ 


8» 



Chart 6. — Percentage op Workers at Each Dollar Wage. 617 Records 

Median wage $6.90. 

Average wage 7 . 56. 

Modal 6.00. 

Middle 50 per cent 6 . 13 to $9.16. 



TABLE XVIII 

Number of Workers, Their Earnings. Per Cent of Total, and 
Resultant Wage Index 

By Three Wage Groups, 605 Records 



Upper Wage Group 


Middle Wage Group 


Lower Wage Group 


$17.00-810.00 


$9.50-$5.00 


$4.50-$1.50 




No, of 






No. of 






No. of 




Wage 


Work- 


Earn- 


Wage 


Work- 


Earn- 


Wage 


Work- 


Earn- 




ers 


ings 




ers 


ings 




ers 


ings 


$17.00 


1 


$17. 


$9.50 


1 


$9.50 


$4.50 


9 


$40.50 


16.00 


1 


16. 


9.00 


54 


486.00 


4.40 


1 


4.50 


15.00 


4 


60. 


8.50 


2 


17.00 


4.25 


3 


12.75 


14.00 


8 


112. 


8.00 


91 


728.00 


4.00 


24 


96.00 


13.00 


6 


78. 


7.50 


5 


37.50 


3.60 


1 


3.60 


12.00 


24 


288. 


7.00 


90 


630.00 


3.50 


7 


24.50 


11.00 


25 


275. 


6.50 


21 


136.50 


3.00 


3 


9.00 


10.50 


1 


10.50 


6.00 


78 


468.00 


2.80 


1 


2.80 


10.00 


60 


600. 


5.50 


13 


71.50 


2.50 


4 


10.00 








5.00 


63 


315.00 


2.25 
2.00 
1.95 
1.50 


1 
1 
1 

1 


2.25 
2.00 
1.95 
1.50 


Total 


130 


1,456.50 




418 


2,899.00 




57 


211.25 


% 


21.5 


31.9 




69.1 


63.5 




9.4 


4.6 


Wage 


Index 


1.48 


Wage 


Index 


.92 


Wage 


Index 


.50 



72 



Wage Worth of School Training 



TABLE XIX 

Number of Workers, Aggregate Years at Present Work and 
Experience Index by Three Wage Groups 
605 Records 



Years 


$17.00-10.00 


$9.60-6.00 


$4-60-1.60 


Si 


1 


s 


at 
Work 




1 i 




S jo 




3 » 

££ 


*1 

IS 


32 






i 


32 








.16 


32 


31 






i 


31 








.16 


31 


28 






i 


28 








.16 


28 


27 


1 


27 












.16 


27 


26 


1 


26 












.16 


26 


25 


1 


25 


i 


25 






2 


.33 


50 


24 


1 


24 










1 


.16 


24 


20 


2 


40 


2 


40 






4 


.66 


80 


18 


2 


36 


2 


36 






4 


.66 


72 


17 


2 


34 


1 


17 






3 


.49 


51 


16 


1 


16 


3 


48 






4 


.66 


64 


15 


2 


30 


4 


60 






6 


.99 


90 


14 


4 


56 


2 


28 






6 


.99 


84 


13 






4 


52 






4 


.66 


52 


12 


1 


12 


2 


24 






3 


.49 


36 


11 


2 


22 


3 


33 






5 


.82 


55 


10 


6 


60 


5 


50 






11 


1.82 


110 


9 


2 


18 


4 


36 






6 


.99 


54 


8 


3 


24 


6 


48 






9 


1.49 


72 


7 


10 


70 


6 


42 






16 


2.63 


112 


6 


12 


72 


20 


120 






32 


5.29 


192 


5* 


2 


11 


2 


11 






4 


.66 


22 


5 


5 


25 


25 


125 






30 


4.95 


150 


4* 


3 


13* 


3 


13§ 






6 


.99 


27 


4 


11 


44 


39 


156 






50 


8.26 


200 


31 


2 


7 


8 


28 






10 


1.65 


35 


3 


16 


48 


27 


81 


2 


6 


45 


7.44 


135 


2* 


2 


5 


11 


27* 


1 


2J 


14 


2.31 


35 


2 


14 


28 


55 


110 


3 


6 


72 


11.90 


144 


If 






4 


7 






4 


.66 


7 


If 






2 


31 






2 


.33 


Sf 


U 


3 


4* 


30 


45 






33 


5.45 


49* 


li 


1 


li 


3 


4 






4 


.66 


5i 


U 


3 


3| 


6 


7* 






9 


1.49 


Hi 


n 






6 


7 






6 


.99 


7 


i 


5 


5 


46 


46 


4 


4 


55 


9.09 


55 


i 


3 


21 


9 


6f 






12 


1.98 


9 


i 






13 


8f 


3 


2 


16 


2.63 


10? 


§ 


4 


2 


28 


14 


13 


6i 


45 


7.44 


22* 


i 


2 


2 
3 


11 


3f 


3 


1 


16 


2.63 


si 


1 


1 


4 


7 


If 


6 


1} 


14 


2.31 


3* 


i 






6 


1 


7 


1* 


13 


2.15 


2i 


i 






3 


3 
8 


4 


§ 


7 


1.16 


I 


t 1 * 






6 


§ 


9 


i 


15 


2.48 


ii 


A 










1 


A 


1 


.16 


A 


A 










1 


*■» 


1 


.16 


A 


Total 


130 


793| 


418 


1458.54 


57 


31.98 


605 


2283.77 


Per cent 


21.50 34.70 


69.10 


63.90 


9.40 


1.40 


100.00 




100.00 


Exp. Index 


1.61 


.92 


.15 





General Group 
TABLE XX 



73 



Number of Workers, Aggregate Age, Percentage of Totals and Result- 
ant Age Index by Three Wage Groups 

605 Records 



Age 

of 

Workers 



59 

55 

53 

50 

49 

47 

45 

43 

42 

41 

40 

39 

38 

37 
36 
35 
34 
33 
32 
31 
30 
29 
28 
27 
26 
25 
24 
23 
22 
21 
20 
19 
18 
17 
16 
15 
14 



$17.00-10.00 



© o © 



Total . . . 
Per cent 



100 



135 
43 
84 
82 

120 
78 

114 
37 
36 
70 



120 
116 

81 

250 
168 
138 

66 
399 
340 
228 
252 
102 

16 



Age 



ndex 



130 3241 
21.5 24.7 

1.15 



$9.50-5.00 



£^ 



12 
7 
12 
21 
15 
34 
45 
75 
91 
39 
7 



418 
)9.1 



■2 & 

© ©5 



$4.50-1.50 



^ f^ 



59 

55 

53 

100 

49 

47 

135 

43 

126 

82 

120 

117 

114 

111 

72 

70 

34 

132 

128 

62 

90 

58 

84 

162 

78 

300 

168 

276 

462 

315 

680 

855 

1350 

1547 

624 

105 



8863 
67.5 



Total No. 

of 
Workers 



.98 



22 

60 

57 

72 

323 

208 

135 

42 



57 1024 
9.4 7.8 



.83 



3 
22 
14 
18 
25 
34 
54 
60 
93 
116 
53 
16 
3 



Total 
Years 
Age 



605 
100% 



59 

110 

53 

250 

49 

47 

270 

86 

210 

164 

240 

195 

228 

148 

108 

140 

34 

198 

128 

62 

210 

174 

84 

243 

78 

550 

236 

414 

550 

714 

1080 

1140 

1674 

1972 

848 

240 

42 



13,128 
100% 



74 



Wage Worth of School Training 
TABLE XXI a 



Comparison in Percentages of Number of Workers, Earnings, Expe- 
rience and Age by Three Wage Groups with Resultant Wage-Expe- 
rience and Wage-Age Ratios 

605 Records 





$17.00-10.00 


$9.50-5.00 


U.50-1.50 


Total Group 




Per Index 
cent 


Per Index 
cent 


Per Index 
cent 


Aver- Index 
age 


No. of Workers .... 
Wage 


21.5 

31.9 1.48 
34.7 1.61 
24.7 1.15 


69.1 

63.5 .92 
63.9 .92 
67.5 .98 


9.4 

4.6 .50 

1.40 .15 

7.8 .83 


605 1 

$7.55 1 


Experience 


3 yr. 9 mo. 1 
21yr.8mo. 1 




Wage-Experience 


.92 


1.00 


3.33 








Wage-Age Ratio . . . 


1.29 


.94 


.60 





TABLE XXI b 

Averages of Wage, Experience, Age 

Number of Workers. 130 418 57 605 

Average wage 11.20 6.93 3.70 7.55 

Average experience . 6 yr.-l mo. 3 yr.-6 mo. 6f mo. 3 yr.-9 mo. 

Average age 24 yr.-ll mo. 21 yr.-2 mo. 18 yr. 21 yr.-8 mo. 



General Group 



75 



fc p 





6 

bJD 

< 


1-1 




a 
00 


6 

a 


6 


OS nn 

W5 IH 


2 09 






<N 


00 


















SI 

Is 






O 

a 

OS 

CO 


O 

a 


2 

a a 

—1 OCNJ 
"3 rH 


<N r-l 

co 


60 


8 



10 


8 


--H <M 

00 r-l 


O iQ 




1 


8 


I> 


CO 


00 3 CO 


£ 5rH " 













^3°° 
^ £ 




§£ 


co 

fcD 

<1 




00 


a 


IO T« 

IO T-l 
















a-s 










.-H IO 




ag 


§3 


6 





6 


d 8 











a 

CO 


a 

CO 


a^ 

=° CO 


CO T-H 


1 


8 


8 


OS 




§5 § 



10 »o 






CO 


TtH 


Tjt-ScC 


•*' °H 











O 













a 


a 


a a 






0) 
bO 


s, 


(N 


^ 


■* 0^ 


£o£ 




< 


1> 


fe 


& 


£"£, 


§ 3 










t» 


CM CO 








(M 


I-H 


<N tH 










6 


0" 




I 




O 

a 

CO 


a 

I-H 
1— 1 


a d 
s°a 


co >-i 








co 


i-H 


CO 






O 


CO 


C& 


10 00 









O 


OS 




<N CO 


10 




c3 


00 
6© 


co 


t^ 


00 +*»o 


ffi'lO 








O 


6 












a 


a 








Si 


fc 


m 


05 


>>o £ 


£°k 




<1 


<N 




£ 


k~s 


O CO 
»0 tH 










s 










• 


6 


6 




4^ 


I 


Pi 


a 


a 


a . 
2o£ 


M 


S8 


H 


CO 


£ 


& 


>> 


CN CO 


5- 






co 


CO 


co 







8 
d 


s 


00 



9 8 

h5o 


8 8 




ts 


m 


















a 



























1 


01 


■Bg 


bfl 






2 


s 


a «a 


tf 



76 Wage Worth of School Training 

Summary of Wage, Age and Experience Replies 

There are 605 complete records in the General Group. Wage 
ranges from $1.50 to $17.00 per week and, to estimate periods of 
progress, may conveniently be grouped in sections from $17.00 
to $10.00, from $9.50 to $5.00 and from $4.50 to $1.50. Tables 
XVIII, XIX, XX show the summary in these three groups at 
each wage, at each year of experience, and at each year of age. 
The percentages of these totals in amounts of earnings, num- 
bers and experience have been summarized in Table XXIa. 

Looking at Tables XXI a and XXI b it is seen that the average 
wage for the $17.00 to $10.00 group is $11.20, the average for 
the entire group is $7.55; the wage-index for the upper group 
is 1.48, showing that $11.20 is 48 per cent greater than $7.55; so, 
too, with the experience for the upper group, the average experi- 
ence for the whole group being 3 years and 9 months, the average 
experience for this group is 6 years and 1 month, this group ex- 
perience having the relation of 1.61 per cent to the experience of 
the average group. The average age for the upper group is 24 years 
and 11 months, the average age for the whole group is 21 years 
and 8 months, which gives the 1.15 age index for the upper group. 
The wage index at 1.48 related to the experience index at 1.61, 
gives a wage-experience ratio of .92. The wage index at 1.48 
related to the age index at 1.15 gives a wage-age ratio of 1.29. 

Following out this same procedure for the other wage groups, 
we find the middle group having a wage experience ratio of 1, 
and a wage-age ratio of .94, while the lower wage group has the 
wage-experience ratio of 3.33 and a wage-age ratio of .60. The 
middle wage group is the average group. The $4.50 to $1.50 
group has a high wage-experience ratio, showing that the workers 
begin with a higher valuation upon their early experience than 
is maintained later by their increasing experience. 

The grouping shown in Chart 6 is the percentage of workers 
at each dollar wage, broken dollar wage being bulked with the 
corresponding dollar wage. The modal wage is $6.00, the median 
wage $6.90, the average $7.56. The middle 50 per cent of workers 
falls between $6.13 and $9.16, the upper quarter earns between 
$9.16 and $17.00, the lower quarter earns between $6.13 and $1.50. 
Chart 5 of percentage of workers at each wage shows a bi-modal 
wage, an equal number of workers occurring at $7.00 and $8.00. 





General Group 




TABLE XXIII 


Dther Work with the Same Firm 




617 Records 


Workers 


Operation 


509 


No other 


2 


Fancy work 


6 


Examiner 


1 


Tucking 


1 


Ruffle-setting 


3 


Marking 


3 


Embroidery 


1 


Sleeve-setting 


1 


Packing boxes 


1 


Lace-runner 


16 


Trimmer 


7 


Hemstitch 


1 


Gegauf 


1 


Scallop 


1 


Night operator instructor 


5 


Several kinds of work 


1 


Needle girl 


1 


Cutting corners 


10 


Pinner 


2 


Winding 


1 


Boxing 


1 


Seaming 


4 


Hosiery tipping 


6 


Glove tipping 


11 


Plaiting 


1 


Tip examiner 


1 


Tagging garments 


1 


General work 


10 


Clasping 


1 


Stock girl 


1 


Doubler 


1 


Sewer 


2 


Picker 


1 


Finishing point 


2 


Errand girl 



77 



617 

This question was asked in order to find out how much shifting 
of girls was customary. Evidently very little is the general rule, 
as 509 of the 617 replied that they had had no other work with 
the same firm. Of the other 108 replies, the largest group was 
16; the next group was 11 ; then two groups at 10. 

Answers to the question as to how many days they were learn- 
ing this other operation with the same firm are given in Table 
XXIV. 



78 



Wage Worth of School Training 





TABLE XXIV 


TABLE 


XXV 




Days Learning 


Average Wage W 


"hile Learning 


Other Occupation 


Other Operation, | 


7 orkers Number of days 


Workers 


Wage Per Week 


514 


No answer. 


506 


No answer. 


26 


1 day. 


16 


$3.00 


18 


2 days. 


2 


3.50 


6 


3 " 


10 


4.00 


1 


4 " 


4 


4.50 


27 


6 " 


25 


5.00 


1 


7 " 


2 


5.50 


15 


12 " 


17 


6.00 


4 


18 " 


2 


6.50 


2 


24 " 


12 


7.00 


2 


36 " 


1 


7.50 


1 


72 " 


12 


8.00 







1 


8.50 


617 




3 


9.00 






3 


10.00 






1 


11.00 



617 

Of the 111 replies, 25 earned $5.00, the modal apprentice 
wage for the other operation with the same firm. Five dollars 
is also the median apprentice wage, $5.65 the average apprentice 
wage. These figures, compared with the record of the Apprentice 
Wage at present operation, show $5.00 as against $3.00 for median 
and modal apprentice wages and $5.65 as against $4.19 average 
apprentice wage. This higher median, modal and average ap- 
prentice wage of the worker in the present position as compared 
with the apprentice wage in previous work would seem to indicate 
a shifting of the higher grade worker to retain her in the factory. 

TABLE XXVI 

Work Previous to That with the Present Employer 

268 made no reply. 
61 considered school as their previous work. 
46 stayed at home. 
19 did housework, showing how few either were workers in the household 

or cared to say they were. 
18 said nothing: indicating an indifference to answering the question, or 

perhaps interpreting staying at home as doing nothing. 
11 came from department stores to their present work. 
9 warping. 

9 from manufacture of ladies' waists. 

8 from office work — probably they were failures in this clerical work and 
had to seek more simple repetitive employment, in order to make a liv- 
ing. 
6 had a number of answers: sugar factories, artificial flowers, embroidery, 

novelties, candy factory, boxing departments, worsted mill. 
5 box factory. 

4 feathers, book-binding, shoe factory. 
In numerous smaller groups, other entirely unrelated kinds of work. 



General Group 79 

This promiscuous transfer from one work to another shows 
lack of direction, mere haphazardness of a chance vacancy heard 
of through a friend and an immediate transfer made without 
reference to the fitness of the work to the worker, or any other 
consideration excepting work near a friend, or the only work 
easily obtainable at the time. 

The ease with which a new work or any operation maybe learned 
may to a large extent be responsible for this shifting in work. If 
work needed preparation, when once learned, the worker would 
probably remain at it, because the cost of learning other work, 
in time of preparation and perhaps in paying to learn, would tend 
to fix the worker in the position once obtained. 

Machine operating is general and easily obtainable work for 
wage earners, but is often seasonal and thus requires ability to 
transfer readily to other lines of operating in order to maintain 
steady wage earning. Machine operating can be learned 
quickly and this is an argument in its favor because work 
which requires long preparatory training and an extended ap- 
prenticeship has within it sufficient content and, hence, enough 
continuous interest and satisfaction to make it worth while to 
pursue exclusively. Yet this type of work may also be seasonal 
and also necessitate alternate work to enable wage earning to 
be continuous. The mere fact that a job requires a short ap- 
prenticeship period may not be disadvantageous. Ease of 
acquisition does not necessarily imply a low wage or brief term 
of employment. 

TABLE XXVII 

Reason for Changing Position 

92 Records 

525 No answer. 

52 Advancement. 

28 Slack work. 

4 Did not likeHhe work. 

2 For change of work. ft«! 

2 Need of girls elsewhere. 

1 Return to school. 

1 Sickness. 

1 Removal. 

1 No reason. 

617 



80 



Wage Worth of School Training 



The prevailing reason, as seen in the above table, is advance- 
ment in their work. The next natural reason is slack work. Of 
the 525 who gave no answer to this question, a considerable num- 
ber may be counted on as not knowing why they were changed, 
as well as lack of desire on their part to tell why they were changed. 

TABLE XXVIII 
Length of Service in Previous Position 



225 Records 



Workers 
392 

7 
14 
19 
10 

7 

5 
13 

7 

2 

3 
38 
17 
30 
21 
15 

7 

3 

2 

2 

1 

1 

1 

617 



Years 
No answer 

1 month 

2 months 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 

10 

1 year 

u 

2 years 
2\ ■ 
3 
3* 

4 

4i 

5 

si 

6 
7J 



The largest group, 38, served one year in the previous position. 
This one-year period of service seems to be a convenient time to 
make a change; it also may be a convenient round number to put 
down in answer to the question. Nineteen shifting after 3 
months' service may be due to inefficiency; or it may be a seasonal 
work which necessitated moving on. The fact that 1 and 2 
years are the times of departure for the larger number of wage- 
earning women from steady employment accounts for the large 
number of replies at those periods. 



General Group 


TABLE 


XXIX 


e Wage in 


Previous Posi 


191 Records 


rkers 


Wage Per Week 


426 


No answer. 


1 


$1.50 


6 


2.50 


10 


3.00 


16 


3.50 


18 


4.00 


9 


4.50 


1 


4.75 


20 


5.00 


5 


5.50 


1 


5.75 


22 


6.00 


1 


6.25 


6 


6.50 


1 


6.60 


13 


7.00 


3 


7.50 


17 


8.00 


1 


8.50 


12 


9.00 


10 


10.00 


1 


11.00 


12 


12.00 


1 


13.00 


3 


14.00 


1 


15.00 



81 



617 



In cases of those whose wage falls below $5.00, they were 
probably learners who called their apprentice period their pre- 
vious position. 

A personal inquiry made of each individual would reveal many 
interesting facts about the reason for change from previous work 
to present position, and the bearing of previous wage upon present 
wage; but all such facts have had to be omitted in this special 
inquiry, dealing, as it does, chiefly with the bearing of school 
training upon present wage-earning power. 



82 Wage Worth of School Training 



TABLE 


XXX 


of Service 


with Other Firms 


584 Records 


orders 


Length of Service 


485 


None. 


33 


No answer. 


5 


1 month. 


4 


2 months. 


6 


3 " 


8 


4 " 


1 


5 * 


4 


6 " 


3 


7 " 


3 


8 " 


5 


9 " 


20 


1 year. 


4 


11 " 


13 


2 years. 


8 


3 " 


6 


4 " 


3 


5 " 


1 


6| " 


2 


7 " 


1 


8 " 


1 


9§ * 


1 


10 * 



617 



Other Positions 



To the question as to the other positions held by the worker 
apart from the present position, out of 617 answers: 

485, or 78.6 per cent had no other position. 
87, or 14.1 per cent, had one other position. 
47, or 7 per cent, had two other positions. 

That 78.6 per cent of the 617 workers were in their first position 
is an astonishing record, but is probably trustworthy from the 
fact that 30 per cent of workers are under 18 years of age. 



General Group 



83 






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84 



Wage Worth of School Training 



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General Group 85 



Nationality 

Another use of the inquiry blank was to find the proportion of 
native-born Americans and foreign-born and to sub-divide still 
further these groups into American born of American parents, 
and American-born of foreign parents. Table XXXI shows that 
of reeords giving complete answers on these points, the American- 
born of German parentage is the largest American-born group; 
then follows American-born of American parentage, total English- 
speaking from foreign countries, and finally total Jewish. 

The total number of foreign-born workers is naturally less 
than the entire group of American nativity. Accuracy or 
finality is not claimed for these figures, but in this group of 617 
women workers in textile factories, among whom there was no 
basis of selection except readiness to respond to this inquiry, 
certain relationships have been found to exist among the replies, 
which fairly represent women workers in textile factories. 

Table XXXIII giving the per cent of these same workers to 
their earnings and their years at present work throws more light 
on the subject of relative numbers, amount of earnings, and 
length of service at present work. It is seen from the totals that 
the American-born of American parentage furnish 22 per cent 
of the entire group of workers, 20 per cent of the total earnings, 
and 19 per cent of the total time, while the total American of 
foreign parentage form 52 per cent of the whole group, get 50 
per cent of the total earnings, and serve 49 per cent of the total 
number of years at present work. Combining these two figures 
into the total American-born worker, both of American and 
foreign parentage, we get almost 75 per cent of the total group 
in number earning 71 per cent of the total earnings and working 
69 per cent of the total years. In the other column in Table 
XXXIII the total foreign-born workers of all nationalities aggre- 
gate 25 per cent of the total number, earning 28 per cent of the 
total earnings, and working almost 31 per cent of the total num- 
ber of years. To indicate the bearing of these figures on each 
other, the ratios of all groups have been worked out by Wage- 
Indices as a ratio of total, and number in the special group, and by 
Experience-Indices as a ratio between total years at work of the 



86 Wage Worth of School Training 

whole number and total years of the special group. The relation 
of these two indices to each other has been called the Wage- 
Experience Ratio. Table XXXIV of indices of Wage, Experi- 
ence, and Wage-Experience Ratio indicates significantly the 
difference in earning power and length of service required to 
attain and hold that power between the American-born and 
the foreign-born. 

German 

The German of American birth has a wage index of .90 as 
compared to the German of German birth who has a wage index 
of 1.14, showing that the foreign-born German in this group 
earns considerably more than the average wage for the entire 
group, while the German of American birth earns a little less 
than the average. In figures, the average weekly wage for the 
American-born German is $6.70, while the average for the 
German-born is $8.52. These figures alone would indicate that 
the German earns more than the American-born German, but 
these figures are offset by the length of time it takes the German- 
born worker to attain and hold that standard of wage, which is 
1.90 of the average time for the whole group or 7 years and 3 
months as compared with the German worker of American birth 
whose experience index is .79 or 3 years as compared with the 
average for the group of 3 years and 10 months. This relation- 
ship reduced to figures gives the wage-experience ratio of the 
foreign-born German as .60 as compared with the wage-experi- 
ence ratio of the American-born, 1.14; in other words, the foreign- 
born German has an economic value of .60 as compared to the 
German of American birth whose economic value is 1.14, where 
the unit 1 represents the average earning of $7.48, after spending 
3 years and 10 months at her present work. 

The average has been used in this calculation instead of the 
median or mode, because all office methods employ the average 
figure. Hence, in dealing with calculations which handle wage 
matters, the popular use of the average has been adopted. 



General Group 



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88 



Wage Worth of School Training 





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General Group 89 

Jewish 

The Jewish groups are largely in the majority. In the needle 
industries represented by this inquiry the Russian of foreign 
birth earns less than the Russian of American birth, but requires 
much less time to attain that wage than does the American-born 
Russian. Hence, the wage experience ratio is considerably 
higher for the foreign-born Russian than for the American-born 
Russian. The explanation of this may be found in the fact that 
the American-born Russian has had the advantage of our Ameri- 
can schools and being alert-minded and accustomed to American 
ways, sees a greater opportunity for earning a rapidly progressive 
wage in commercial lines. This opportunity selects the brightest 
among the American-born Russians for office workers, leaving the 
slow-minded and less ambitious American-born Russian to go 
into the factory field, so that, even though the parentage of this 
group of Russians may be of the same grade, factory work makes 
a selection of a more simple mentality among American-born 
Russians; hence, we are not comparing Russians of like mental 
complexity when we put side by side the American-born Russian 
and the foreign-born Russian. 

The numbers of workers for the American-Hungarian and 
foreign Hungarian are too few to give significance to the ratios 
obtained. They are added to the total number of Jewish workers 
because they are all Jewish and thus increase the reliability by a 
larger number of group replies. 

The total Jewish group of foreign birth has a wage-experience 
ratio of 1.46 as compared to the American-born Jewish ratio of 
1.35. The total foreign-born Jewish earn more than the Ameri- 
can-born and take a little less time to attain that wage. 



Italian 

The Italian shows the increased earning power of the American- 
born over the foreign-born and forms the best wage-earning 
national group among the classifications in this inquiry. The 
American-born Italian earns, as a group, almost the average wage 
for the entire group, but attains this average in the shortest time 
of any of the groups. They are known among managers to be 
most desirable workers. They come from an environment of 



90 Wage Worth of School Training 

needlework; their mothers are expert needle- worn en and the 
young girls are seldom without some needlework in their hands. 
They learn rapidly when employed at a new work, concentrate 
upon their work, and are an asset to the textile industry. 



American 

Returning to the consideration of the comparative wage- 
experience ratio between the American-born and the foreign- 
born, Table XXXIV shows a decline of this ratio for the foreign- 
born Irish as compared to the American-born Irish, while the 
foreign-born English has an increased earning capacity over the 
American-born English. Aggregating the total English-speak- 
ing groups, it is found that the total English-speaking foreigner 
has a higher ratio than the total English-speaking American of 
foreign parentage, but, that neither of these groups comes up to 
the average wage and experience for the entire group. 

The total American-born of American parentage earns a little 
less than the average wage for the entire group in about a year 
less than the average time for the group, which brings their wage- 
experience ratio slightly above the average for the group. The 
total American-born worker of foreign parents earns about 12 
cents per week more than the average wage. The average time 
to earn this increase is about two months more than American 
parentage, which reduces the economic value a few points below 
the American of American birth. 

Totaling the American-born worker of American parentage 
and the American-born of foreign parentage we get a wage index 
of .95 and an experience index of .92 which gives a wage- 
experience ratio of 1.03; that is, the total American worker earns 
$7.12 in 3 years and 6 months as compared to the total foreign- 
born worker who earns $8.54 in 4 years and 9 months, reducing 
the foreign-born worker's economic value to .93, while the total 
American-born worker is reckoned at the value of 1.03. Thus, 
without having combined on the per cent basis the earning 
value of a group with their experience value, it would have seemed 
that the foreign-born worker was more to be desired as a producer 
in the textile manufacturing field, for the foreign-born group 
earn more than did the American-born group. Their average 
weekly wage is $8.54, while the average of the American-born 



PERCENTAGE OF NUMBER OF WORKERS 

PERCENTAGE OF EARNINGS 

PERCENTAGE OF YEARS AT PRESENT WORK 



22.08% 
20.79% 
19.86% 

24.06% 
2175% 
18.97% 

14.09% 
13.50% 
16.72% 

5.74% 
6.56% 
4.84% 



8.96% 
8.67% 
8.63% 



American Parentage. 




Parentage 

Italian. Swiss, French, 

Dutch, Swedish. 




4.12% 
4.70% 
7.83% 



2.15% 
2.19% 
2.38% 

15.07% 
17.71% 

12.62% 



3.74% 
4.29% 
8.16% 



Total American of Foreign Parentage. 



Total Foreign Born. 




Chart 7. Percentages of Number of Workers, Earnings, and Years at 
Present Work compared according to Nativity of Workers and Parents' 
Nationality — 557 Records. 



General Group 91 

group is $7.92, the average for the group being $7.48. But the 
time required to reach and hold this average weekly wage is over 
a year more than the American requires. This greater length of 
time spent at the machine means that she is occupying the space 
during that year which several Americans might occupy in suc- 
cessfully turning their aggregate product into the total amount. 
This agrees with the general statement among factory managers 
that the American-born is preferred to the foreigner, even though 
the foreigner, they say, has the larger wage at the end of each 
week. The American being on home soil and having had the 
advantages this country affords in education and general mental 
stimulation is a quicker producer than the foreigner. 

Wage Comparison 

As seen in Table XXXV the modal wage for the foreigner is 
$10.00 as compared with $7.00 of the American-born, the modal 
time at work is 3 years as compared to the American 2 years ; the 
median wage of the foreigner is $8.50 as compared with $7.00 of 
the American-born worker and the time 3 years as compared to 2. 
The middle 50 per cent of the foreign earn from $10.00 to $7.00 
while the middle 50 per cent of the American-born earn from 
$8.00 to $5.50. The middle 50 per cent of the time spent at the 
work among foreigners falls between 6 years and f of a year, 
while the middle 50 per cent among the American falls between 
4 years and 1 year. The entire range of wage among foreigners 
is between $15.00 and $3.50; among American-born between 
$17.00 and $1.50. The range of experience of the foreigner is 
between 31 years and 2 years; of the American-born, 28 years 
and 1 week. 

Summary of Nationality 

The summary of results, according to nationality, gives us the 
following information: 

Five hundred and fifty-seven records were taken, from which 
comparisons could be made of the nativity of workers' and 
parents' nationality by the number of workers, earnings and 
years at present work. This classification falls into two columns : 
the American-born and the foreign-born. Chart 7 presents 
graphically, percentage number of workers, percentage earnings, 
and percentage years at present work. 



92 



Wage Worth of School Training 



TABLE 

Averages, Modes, Medians, Middle 50 Per Cent and Range of 

Parents' 
557 



American-Born Worker 



Parents' Nationality 


No. of 
Workers 


Average 


Mode 


Median 


Middle 50% 


Range 




134 


$6.76 
S yrs. 


7.00 

i J/r.5 


7.00 


8.00—6.60 

4 W- — i yr. 


14.00—1.95 




13 yr. — 1 wk. 




58 


7.07 

4 yr.—ll 


8.00 
|:l:3 


6.50 

#2/r. 


8.00—5.50 

6 yr. — 1 yr. 


15.00—1.50 




20 yr. — & yr. 




13 


8.00 

4 vr. 


8.00 


8.00 


9 50— 6 50 
4 yr. — 2 yr. 


12.00 — 5.60 




16 yr.—Hyr. 




7 


6 93 

2 yr.—W 


7.00 

Syr. 


7.00 

3 yr. 




9 . 00 — 5 . 00 




■5 yr. — / yr. 


Total English-Speaking 


78 


7.21 

4 If.— 7 


8.00 

2 J/r. 


7.00 


8.00—5.50 

5 yr. — 1\ yr. 


15.00 — 1.50 




20 yr. — 2 wk. 




22 


9 25 

3 j/r.— 7 


5.00 

8 yr. 


7.00 

2j/r. 


0.00—5.00 

5 yr. — 1 yr. 


17.00— 3 50 




IS yr. — i yr. 




1 


13.00 

3 yr. 














2 


4.50 
7 mo. 








500—400 




i yr.—l yr. 


Polish 


7 


6 85 
2 yr.—9 


6.50 

4 J/r- 


6.50 

Hvr. 




12 00 — 4 00 




5 yr. — J yr. 




















TotalJewish 


32 


8.54 
Syr.— J 


5.00 


6.50 

2yr. 


8 .00—5.00 

4 yr.— j yr. 


17.00—3.50 

18 yr.—\ yr. 




18 


7.25 

Zyr.—S 


6.00 

2:11:1 


6 50 

liyr. 


0.00— 6 00 

3 yr. — 1\ yr. 


12.00 — 4.50 




6 yr.—h yr. 


Dutch 


15 


7.20 

6 yr.—8 


7.00 


7.00 

5 yr. 


8.00—7.00 

8 yr. — 2 yr. 


8.00 — 5.00 




15 yr. — J yr. 




7 


9.64 
5 yr— 3 


3 yr. 


10.00 

4w- 




12 . 00 — 7 . 00 




18 yr. — 2iyr. 




7 


6.00 

2 yr.— 9 


5.50 


5.50 




6 . 50 — 4 . 66 




7 yr.— J yr. 




3 


4.66 
7 mo. 




5.00 




5 50—3 . 50 

I yr.—i yr. 

13 00— 2 00 






123 


7 04 
3 yr.—6\ 


6.00 

2yr. 


7.00 

Syr, 


g 00 — 5.50 




4 yr.—l iyr.^eo yr.—lmn. 


Total Amer. of Foreign 


294 


7.16 

Syr.— 7 


8.00 

2 yr. 


7.00 

3 yr. 


8 00— 6 00 

5 yr. — 1 yr. 


17.00 — 1.50 




28 yr. — / wk. 


Total Amer. Born .... 


417 


7.12 

Syr.— 6 


7.00 

2yr. 


7.00 

2 yr. 


8.00— 5 50 

4 yr. — / yr. 


17 00— 1.56 

28 yr.—fo yr. 



General Group. 



93 



XXXV 

Wage and Years at Present Work by Nativity and 

Nationality 

Records 



Foreign-Born Worker 


No. of 

Workers 


Average 


Mode 


Median 


Middle 50% 


Range 


23 


8.52 

7yr.—8 


10;9;8 

1 2/r. 


9.00 

3 yr. 


10.00—7.00 

11 yr. — | yr. 


14.00—4.00 

32 yr.—l yr. 


5 


9 30 

4 3/r.— 7 


14.00 

1 yr. 


8.00 




14.00—3.50 

10 yr. — | yr. 


7 


6.43 

3 0JV— 11 




5.50 

livr. 




10.00—3.50 

20 yr.—i yr. 














12 


7.62 


14;8 
§ 2/r.: J j/r. 


7.00 

Hyr. 


10.00—4.00 

l\ yr.—i yr. 


14.00—3.50 

20 yr.—i yr. 


41 


8.94 

S yr. 


10.00 

f 2/r. 


9.00 

Hyr. 


10.00—8.00 

o yr.—l yr 


12.00—5.00 

16 yr.—i yr. 


18 


7.97 

S j/r.— j(i 


6.00 

4:ijyr. 


8.00 

3 yr. 


10.00—6.00 

A\ yr. — 1\ yr- 


12.00—5.00 

IS yr.—i yr. 


18 


9.66 

2 W-—H 


10.00 


10.00 

2yr. 


11.00—8.00 

5 yr.—l yr. 


15.00 — 5.00 

8 yr. — i yr. 


4 


7.25 

2 yr.— 8 


8.00 






8.00—6.00 

7 yr.—i yr. 


3 


8.67 

4 y- 




9.00 

4vr. 




10.00—7.00 

5 yr. — 3 yr. 


84 


8.80 
Syr.— -2 


10.00 

3 yr. 


9.00 

2 yr. 


10.00—7.00 

6 yr. — | yr. 


15.00—5.00 

16 yr. — i yr. 


7 


8.28 
Syr.—S 


7.00 

3:1 yr. 


7.00 

3 yr. 




13.00—6.00 

7 yr. — 1 yr. 


3 


5.00 

2 yr.—S 


4.00 


i yr. 




7.00—4.00 

6 yr. — i yr. 


7 


9.42 

17 2/r.— 


11 8 

1:8 yr. 


9.00 

18 yr. 




12.00—7.00 

81 yr. — 1 yr. 


3 


7.67 

5 yr.—lO 


8.00 


8 yr. 




8.00—7.00 

6 yr. — i yr. 


1 


7.00 

5 2/r. 






















140 


8.54 
4 J^.— 9 


10.00 

Syr. 


8.50 

Syr. 


10.00—7.00 

6 yr. — f yr. 


15.00—3.50 

SI yr. — | yr. 


557 


7.48 

S yr.—lO 


8.00 

2 yr. 


7.00 

2yr. 


9.00—6.00 

5 yr. — 1 yr. 


17.00—1.50 

31 yr. — lwk. 



94 Wage Worth of School Training 

The largest group among the Am eri can-born is of German 
parentage, which forms about one-quarter of the total number. 

Comparing the relationship of the three blocks in the German 
Parentage Group, we find, on the American side, the worker 
becoming more alert, as shown by the fact that she takes less 
time to earn the average wage. The foreign-born German 
requires more experience in proportion to the wage earned than 
does the German-American, although the German-born earns 
more in proportion to numbers. The German-American is not 
such an extensive wage-earner, but is quicker to earn this wage. 

Comparing this German- American Group with the American- 
American Group, we find, however, the same number among the 
American-American Group earning about the same wage as 
the German-American Group and in very little more time. 

The case is different with those of English parentage born on 
American soil and the foreign-born English worker. Here the 
alertness for wage-earning in a short time is on the side of the 
foreign-born English. There seems to be a deterioration in 
wage-earning alertness when the English worker becomes Ameri- 
canized, which may have the same explanation as was given 
for the foreign Jewish worker. Office work selects the better 
educated and progressive wage-earners, particularly among 
English who have not the foreign language difficulty. 

Among the Jewish, the preponderance of numbers is on the 
foreign-born side. This has been elsewhere explained as probably 
due to the attraction for the higher grade of Americanized Jewish 
girl into clerical lines of work. The less mentally equipped 
Jewish worker drifts into the factor field. The proportion of 
wage earned by the foreign-born Jewish worker is greater than 
the Americanized Jewish worker, that is, the foreign-born Jewish 
woman is a steadier and better factory wage-earner than the 
Americanized Jewish woman. 

The other foreign nationalities have been grouped together: 
the Italian, Dutch, Swiss, French, and Swedish. In this group- 
ing, it is seen that, among foreign workers, much more time is 
required to earn and hold their proportion of wage than on the 
American side, where number, wage and experience blocks have 
almost the same length. 

Coming now to the totals on each side, we find the total 
American-born of foreign parents as compared with the total 



General Group 



95 




Indices of Waq 

Aver. Wage = $7 



Totals o4 all Nationalities 
Wacje-Experience Ratio -_— 
Aver. Exper. = 3 yrs. 10 mos. 



Chart 8. Indices of Wage, Experience, Wage-Experience Ratio, Comparing Nativity and 
Parents' Nationality — 557 Records. 



96 Wage Worth of School Training 

foreign-born requiring less experience to the wage and less wage 
to the number; still further totaling the results of the American- 
born by adding those of American parentage, the relationship 
between the blocks is changed only in the number block. The 
adding in of American parentage increases the number proportion 
to the wage and experience. 

In another graphic form, Chart 8, giving indices, is shown 
the relationship between the American-born and the foreign-born. 
It resolves itself to the greater time required by the foreigner 
to earn her proportion of the wages than is required by the 
American-born. 



SCHOOL HISTORY GROUP 



I 

SCHOOL HISTORY GROUP 

For clearness and brevity, it has been found desirable to devise 
a condensed form of giving specific valuation to each group for 
easy and ready comparison with other groups. 

Indices Defined 
Tables state numbers of workers and percentage of the 

WHOLE, EARNINGS AND PERCENTAGE, and YEARS AT WORK AND 

percentage. These percentages have then been related to each 
other, as was done in the General Group, in ratios: the wage 
ratio being called the "Wage Index"; the experience ratio being 
called the "Experience Index." 

The Wage Index is arrived at by dividing the percentage which 
each group's earnings is of the whole by the percentage number 
of workers in that group. 

The Experience Index is arrived at by dividing the percentage 
of the group's years at present work by the percentage number 
of workers in that group. 

A further resolution of these two indices, Wage and Experience, 
into a Wage-Experience Ratio is obtained by division of the 
W^age Index by the Experience Index. These indices in a unit 
figure either 1 or 1 plus the decimal, or 1 less the decimal, express 
the relation of the figures for the group under consideration to the 
Average for the entire group. The Average expressed by index 
is 1.; in wage it is $7.30 for the 515 with complete school histories. 

The average time spent by these 515 to attain and hold the 
$7.30 wage is 3 years and 9 months. This average wage and 
experience for the entire group is the pivot about which turn 
the indices of all other similar groups. 

Coefficients of Correlation 

These were calculated on the average basis by Pearson's for- 
mula, and were applied to the School History Group of 515 
workers as between wage and experience and between wage and 
age. Coefficient for wage and experience was .38; for wage and 

99 



TABLE XXXVI 

Number of Workers, Wage, Years at Present Work rt Nat,™, Years in School, Grade at Leaving School 

515 Records 



Gbade 

Tti. 
in a^rnl 


HI 

Am. A-F. For. 


IV 

Am. A.-y. F. 


Am. A.-P. P. 


V. 

Am. A.-P. P. 


VII 
Am. A.-P. P. 


VIII 
im. A.-F. p. 


Graduates 
Am. A.-F. F. 


HlOB 


Totals fob each Yeah 
at School 


Total 






" 




", 


'}.« 










38 


38 


W^ge °' °" 




g.67 


1 


23.60 


I.* 


i» 


1 75 






14.60 


9 

70 SO 


No. 








' 


L 


i 


" 






1 3 
7 28 




E^fer 




10 

1.6 


1 u 


2.6 


ii 


10.60 








•3.60 41 


8 


Wage 




* 


'« 


5 4.60 It 

1.5 .5 7 


1 1 5 
11 8 46 


13 38 10 


2 1 
10.60 10 


1 1 
11 8.26 




6 8 8 
40.50 62 75 78 


22 


Wage 




? 


if J ,0 .5 


33 13.60 6 

8.6 7 .76 


|l.6. d^ g 


8 8 2 
68 87.60 18 


&« s 


1 2 
«.S» .33 




18 25 19 


62 


Wage 






IS 


18 3 
63 20 

6.5 36 7.25 


6 17 4 
M.» 37.9 7!SS 


13 39 8 5 17 5 
es' l-fals 7e!« S.I '":" ".8 


4 5 1 
25.60 44 10 
IS S S.6 




29 87 23 


137 


Wage 


8 




1 1 


a 6 

20 42.60 
9.5 16 


5 12 3 
>■ 80 28 

2S.2 33. 6 7.76 


141.60 238.60 66 

so. 5 /o« 52. 


10 34 9 
22. S IIS 61.6 


B:S'B.. 5 


14 1 

6.60 25 6 


42 113 26 
328.50 748.85 202 


180 

■■■ ■ 


gp 






\s 




11.60 28 6 

2.3 9.6 .S3 


82.80 143.60 > 

30.85 47.4 l.S 


86.60 76.60 64.60 


10 63.76 80 

3 lS.tS 17.5 


3 2 
23 18.80 


21 50 12 
117.80 323 76 107 50 


578.05 


lis 














7.60 




1 


2 


17.50 


E?, 














? }! 




1 


2 2 


?! 


Wage 







1 3 
7 81 


6 

1.6 


1 
4.60 


1 


6 

12 . 60 


7 


10 
80 

68 


13 39 
80.50 278.35 
S6 US. 5 


;« s 


10 


220.35 


80 

51.6 


8:S 


■£ 


27 


B.. 


if 




280.50 

99.8 


104 
S4l' 


35 


177 

.... -i 


No. 




4 18 


1 6 


2 
18 


68 

ee.s 


17 


a 


14 


80.9 


8 

88.50 
16.9 


25 60 
204.30 888 


84 

ss.e 


i? 


9S.8 


if 


2 
10 


63.76 


;L 


1 


57 


138 


34 
88 


229 
1814.05 


No. 


Rapid .... 


L 


3 




1 

5 

2.5 


88.60 

eo 


1 


i. 


8 


9 13 
70 108 

25.73 51.83 


6 
42 


46.60 


24 
173.75 


i. 


re 


«>s 


-;.«. 


!•- 


1.83 


1 


23 


380 


5:8 


840.50 

418.53 


& 


Natjvity y 


1 6 
4 41 


8 50 


8 


a 

03 

28 


19 
124 


10 
88.50 


21 

183 


100.8 


26 

".', SO 


47 112 
854.80 788.35 
147.9 S66.1 


22 
171.60 
1S9.9 


23 


70 

seo'ss 


ie 


30.75 


73.7 


iS 


5 
31.50 


10.6 


5 


118 


293 
1008.0 


104 


515 

:'... 


No. 


at- 


46 
83. e 


\i 


38 
278.50 

124 


88 
040.60 


181 


872 . 10 


59 
425 


13 
88 


515 
8780.75 




No. 



100 Wage Worth of School Training 

age was .34. This relationship is so close that it was not deemed 
necessary to carry the age figures in relationship to the wage, 
since what would hold good of the wage-experience relation would 
apply, according to this Pearson coefficient, to the wage-age 
relation. The figure .38 — less than one-half correlation between 
wage and experience — means that there is a parallel increase of 
the wage with the experience, but at a slower rate, and not the 
perfect correlation or equal increase of wage and experience 
which the figure 1. would represent. This figure of correlation, 
.38, is borne out by Chart 14 which shows the small experience 
needed to gain SI. 50 to $4.50 wage in the beginning of the wage- 
earning career. Experience and wage increase progressively but 
not equally. If there were a perfect correlation, then as the wage 
doubled the experience would double; but, as it is less than one- 
half, the number of years spent at present work increases almost 
twice as fast as the wage. 

Methods of Grouping 

The statistical possibilities dealt with in this inquiry centered 
on the subject, the Wage Worth of School Training. Because 
of incompleteness of answers concerning school training in some 
of the papers, they have been treated in two groups : 

1. The "General Group," in which nationality, age of worker, 
present wage and number of years at present work have been the 
controlling statistical headings. 

2. The "School History Group," further classified and analyzed 
in detail according to the number of years spent at school, the 
age and grade on leaving school, and the grouping on each dollar 
of wage. 

Three parentage divisions have been made in the School 
History Group: 

American birth and parentage. 
American-born of foreign parentage. 
Foreign-born. 

Another classification has been made from these tables into 
(a) "School Progress Group," giving the normal, rapid, and 

slow progress workers during their school career, and 

(6) "Age Grade Group," giving the normal, over-age, and 

under-age workers during their school career. 



School History Group 101 

School Progress Group 

1. Normal Progress Groups are those who were in the grade 
corresponding to the number of years they had been at school: 
the first grade being one year at school ; second grade, two years, 
third grade, three years, etc. 

2. Rapid Progress Groups are those who were less years in 
school than the number of the grade at leaving. 

3. Slow Progress Groups are those who were more years in 
school than the number of the grade at leaving. 



Age Grade Group 

The Age Grade Group is made by the combination of the age 
at which the pupils left school and the grade at which they left, 
in classifications corresponding to those of the School Progress 
Group : 

1. Normal Groups are those who left school at the age corres- 
ponding to the normal age for the grade, 6 and 7 years of age 
belonging to the first grade; 7 and 8 belonging to the second 
grade; 8 and 9 belonging to the third grade, etc. 

2. Under-age Groups are those who were younger than the 
regulation age for the grade. 

3. Over-age Groups are those who were older than the regula- 
tion age for the grade. 

The summary of the figures falling into the various grade 
groupings gives the classification by grade at leaving school. 

Charts have been arranged from the tables, in order to present 
graphically the fluctuations of the figures of the various groups. 
These charts take the form of wage and experience curves and 
also of blocks so arranged as to compare readily quantitative 
differences. 

As Nativity is a factor in wage-earning determination and 
also in the amount of time required to attain a wage, nativity 
representation, in lines and blocks, has been made in Charts 20, 
21, 22, 23. 

The School Progress and Age Grade Groups are the 515 com- 
plete records of the workers, arranged, first, according to the 
number of years spent in school and, second, according to age 
and grade at leaving school. 



Number op Workers, Wan, Earnings, Years 



TABLE XXXVII 
at Present Work by Nativity and Age and Grade at Leaving School 
515 Records 



" 



Totals fob Each 



N 0m al... 




3 


1 

10 


J 


7 48 


4 11 
SO 70 50 

s.ee es.s 


8 


iO 


43 


>.Lo 


72.5. 


iS.T. 


n 


81.50 


10.6 




30 88 
217.50 608.60 


32 


1111 60 


Wage 




} 


s., 


I 5 

II SO 


» 


9 

n 


61 


S-" 


19 


wo. ss 


21 

189.60 


43 100 
824 80 682.76 
1S9.3 873. 5 


120 SO 


in 


25 


18 




is 


\ 


16 


594.30 1856 80 


68 
369.37 


347 No. 


«e 








J 


13 


\n 


i 


2 
33 


23 50 


7.03 


2 

3.33 




43.56 66.25 
IS. 73 43.03 


86 

39.33 


18 
100.16 


No. 


Totals by 
Nativity 


1 **.* 


J, 8 


64 
«4 


63 
IS 


61 


io |» 

8I.S013S 


loo. a 


817.60 


864.80 760.36 


139.0 


169 
67.67 


70 


211 50 


30.73 


37 


33.3 


3150 


51.50 


5 


118 293 
37S'.4 1006.9 


.2. 


515 

/■ 


No. 


Grades.. 


46 

es.s 


13 


38 
273. SO 
«4 


88 

m 50 

esi.s 


61,1.9 


117 
872.10 


59 


Jj 


515 
8760 .75 




No. 



School History Group 
TABLE XXXIX 



103 



Wage and School History op Workers 17 Years op Age and 2 Years at 
Present Work 



Series Accordin 
Leaving 


g to Grade at 
School 


Series According to Present Wage 


Grade 


Yrs. at 


Age at 


Present 


Present a„.„j„ 
Wage Grade 


Yrs. at 


Age at 


School 


Leaving 


Wage 


School 


Leaving 


III 


2 


14 


$7.00 


$12.00 Grad. 


8 


14 


V 


6 


14 


6.00 


10.00 VII 


9 


14 


V 


9 


14 


6.50 


8.00 Grad. 


8 


14 


V 


7 


14 


7.00 


8.00 VIII 


8 


13 


V 


8 


14 


8.00 


8.00 V 


8 


14 


VI 


7 


14 


7.00 


7.00 VII 


8 


15 


VI 


6 


14 


5.00 


7.00 VII 


9 


15 


VI 


8 


14 


6.00 


7.00 VI 


7 


14 


VI 


9 


14 


5.50 


7.00 V 


7 


14 


VI 


8 


14 


5.00 


7.00 III 


2 


14 


VII 


9 


14 


10.00 


6.50 V 


8 


14 


VII 


8 


14 


6.00 


6.00 Grad. 


9 


14 


VII 


8 


14 


6.00 


6.00 Grad. 


8 


13 


VII 


7 


14 


6.00 


6.00 VIII 


2 


15 


VII 


6 


14 


5.00 


6.00 VII 


7 


14 


VII 


7 


14 


4.00 


6.00 VII 


8 


14 


VII 


9 


15 


7.00 


6.00 VII 


8 


14 


VII 


8 


15 


7.00 


6.00 VI 


8 


14 


VIII 


2 


15 


6.00 


6.00 V 


6 


14 


VIII 


8 


13 


8.00 


5.50 VI 


8 


14 


Grad. 


8 


13 


6.00 


5.00 Grad. 


9 


15 


Grad. 


8 


14 


12.00 


5.00 VII 


6 


14 


Grad. 


8 


14 


8.00 


5.00 VI 


8 


14 


Grad. 


8 


14 


6.00 


5.00 VI 


6 


14 


Grad. 


9 


15 


5.00 


4.00 Grad. 


5 


13 


Grad. 


5 


13 


4.00 


4.00 VII 


7 


14 




19 Years op 


Age — 4 Years at Present Work 




VII 


1 


13 


6.00 


10.00 III 


1 


18 


III 


1 


18 


10.00 


9.00 VI 


7 


14 


VI 


9 


14 


8.00 


8.00 VII 


8 


14 


VI 


8 


14 


7.00 


8.00 VII 


8 


14 


VI 


7 


14 


9.00 


8.00 VII 


8 


14 


VII 


8 


14 


8.00 


8.00 VI 


9 


14 


VII 


8 


14 


8.00 


7.00 VI 


8 


14 


VII 


8 


14 


8.00 


6.00 High 


9 


14 


VII 


8 


14 


5.00 


6.00 III 


1 


13 


High 


9 


14 


6.00 


5.00 VII 


8 


14 



These different lines of procedure in arranging the records were 
for the definite purpose of checking answers on school records 
with records as to wage and experience requisite to attain and 
hold that wage. The specific kind of training which the school 
afforded could not be gone into, because dependent on the indi- 



104 Wage Worth of School Training 

vidual history of each worker. Such individual histories would 
be based on memory and therefore unreliable. 

Four hundred fifty-seven replies are from girls who have 
been educated in public schools in and around New York; 62 
are the product of parochial, Lutheran and foreign schools. To 
deal with this differentiation among so small a number would lead 
us nowhere; hence, the public and private school records are 
merged in the statistical handling of school training, making a 
group of 519. Four of these gave no record of years at present 
work. This left 515 complete records for the School History 
Group. 

An advisable way to handle the influences bearing upon wage- 
worth would be to group those of the same age and of the same 
length of experience and note the varying wage. This method 
was pursued in two instances, taking for a group those having 
the same school history according to the largest number leaving 
school at any one age, i.e., 14 years; the largest number leaving 
school at any one grade, which was at the seventh grade, spend- 
ing 8 years in school; the greatest number at any one year of age 
of the worker, 17 years of age; and the greatest number at number 
of years at present work, 2 years. These cases were so arranged 
as to follow up the record of each worker throughout. 

The findings speak for themselves. The largest group is 7, 
having 4 years' experience; 2 at 18 years of age earn $8.00 per 
week; 3 at 19 years of age earn $8.00 and 1 earns $5.00; 1 at 24 
years of age earns $11.00. 

Similar analysis with the other groups would have been to 
divide the numbers to such fineness that the returns would have 
lost significance. This method, from these instances, merely 
corroborates the coefficient of correlation between wage and ex- 
perience .38, and between wage and age .34. 

Hence, with the limitation of numbers, the method followed 
was to group those falling on single classifications; to add the 
results of the wage they reported and find its percentage to the 
total wage of the entire group; to add the number of years at 
present work of the small group under consideration and find 
the percentage of the sum to the entire years at present work of 
the whole group; and, finally, to add the age of the workers in 
the small group and find its percentage to the total age of the 
whole group. 



School History Group 



105 



This is dealing in averages, the significance of the average of 
each group under consideration being entirely with reference to 
the average of the entire group with which it is compared. 

TABLE XL 

Number and Per Cent of Workers at Each Year of Age, Wage, and 
Years at Present Work 

515 School History Records 







2° 








hS£ 






-a 








*5 




in 




8 

1 


la 

1 


°9 


8 


5* 

95 95 
ft* 


v,8 


8 

1 


59 


1 


.19 


$17.00 


i 


.19 


32 


1 


.19 


31 


2 


.38 


55 


2 


.38 


15.00 


2 


.38 


31 


1 


.19 


31 


7 


1.36 


53 


1 


.19 


14.00 


5 


.97 


28 


1 


.19 


3£ 


1 


.19 


49 


1 


.19 


13.00 


6 


1.16 


26 


2 


.38 


3 


34 


6.60 


47 


1 


.19 


12.00 


19 


3.69 


24 


2 


.38 


2f 


4 


.78 


45 


5 


.97 


11.00 


20 


3.90 


20| 


1 


.19 


2| 


2 


.38 


42 


2 


.38 


10.50 


1 


.19 


20 


3 


.58 


2J 


10 


1.94 


41 


4 


.78 


10.00 


41 


7.94 


18 


3 


.58 


2| 


2 


.38 


40 


3 


.58 


9.50 


1 


.19 


m 


1 


.19 


2i 


4 


.78 


39 


1 


.19 


9.00 


39 


7.58 


17 


2 


.38 


2* 


1 


.19 


38 


5 


.97 


8.50 


2 


.38 


16 


4 


.78 


2 


61 


11.84 


37 


3 


.58 


8.00 


72 


14.00 


15 


4 


.78 


H 


4 


.78 


36 


3 


.58 


7.50 


4 


.78 


14 


4 


.78 


If 


3 


.58 


35 


4 


.78 


7.00 


80 


15.50 


13 


4 


.78 


11 


29 


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106 Wage Worth of School Training 



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Chart 9. Percentage of Workers at Each Wages — 515 School History Records. 



School History Group 107 

Wage, Age and Years at Present Work 

Table XL giving together with the number and per cent of 
workers at each age, the wage and years at present work of those 
with school history records, is rendered in graphic form in Charts 
9, 10 and 11. 

Looking at Chart 9, representing the wage scale, most notice- 
able is the long line at $7.00: 15.5 per cent of all these workers 
are working for $7.00 a week; $8.00 and $6.00 hold an equal place 
at 14 per cent of the total number. Then comes the $5.00 wage, 
with almost 12 per cent of the total. $10.00 is next in order with 
nearly 8 per cent of the total. These facts are significant when 
one considers the living expense in such a city as New York for 
those women-workers who are entirely dependent upon their 
own earnings. Yet, the minimum wage does not solve this 
difficulty of the mediocre wage, because it merely throws out of 
employment those who cannot earn the minimum wage. It is 
hard to determine whether or not these girls really earn more than 
$7.00 per week because the basis is arbitrary upon which the wage 
is fixed. Piecework is rated at 20 cents an hour : that is, a me- 
dium worker is selected to time a new operation or a new machine 
or a new line of goods at the rate of 20 cents an hour. This 
medium worker is set to work on the new article or operation 
and the rate per dozen is estimated on the basis of her output. 
Whether this rating is fair, whether the employer takes the mo- 
dal girl, is a question which cannot be settled by theory. The 
discussion of the merits and social justice of present wage-setting 
methods is apart from this inquiry. 

It is the responsibility of educators to train their students in 
work such as will make them alert, open-minded, progressively 
skilled workers and to direct those who are handicapped, toward 
work other than is offered in the factories. It may not require 
much brain power to operate a machine, but there are certain 
pupils leaving our grammar schools who have not brain reaction 
suited even for simple machine work. 

Number of Years at Present Work 

Chart 10 represents the experience of 515 workers as expressed 
by the length of time they have been at their present operation 
or a similar one. The long line in this chart is at 2 years, which 



108 



Wage Worth of School Training 



I.li.llll.ll. 



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School History Group 109 

is the prevailing length of time for almost 12 per cent of these 
workers at present work. The next in length of tenure of place, 
8.5 per cent, is 1 year, and an almost equal per cent at 4 years. 
It would seem that most of these who serve 1 year, remain 4 
years. 

The next greatest number staying for any length of time is 6 
months. This does not mean that they are no longer industrial 
workers: merely that they have not remained longer at their 
present position. 

The generally credited number of years that a girl remains at 
work is 5 years, but this is true of only 5 per cent of the total 
number of these 515 workers, and the discussion of change of 
position showed that 78 per cent of this number of workers did 
not change positions: the present position was the only one 
they had held. 

In reality, from this inquiry, it would seem that 2 years is the 
general length of time for staying at one position. At the ex- 
treme, we have 32 years in the same place. 

There is little inducement in industry for a woman to remain 
in one position. 

Rate of Wage Increase 

The rate of wage increase does not justify the length of serv- 
ice required to attain the maximum. The wage-earning use- 
fulness of the factory worker seems to be at its height at about 
4 years, as seen in Table XV where the largest group, 91, earn 
$8.00 with medium experience 3f years, modal and average ex- 
perience 4 years. After that, the increase is very slow, entirely 
out of proportion to length of service; hence the movement for 
mutual benefit associations among workers and, in foreign coun- 
tries, for old age pensions. 

The woman worker in the factory at no time is paid sufficient 
beyond everyday needs to enable her to save to any extent. 
Laying by for old age is rare among factory workers, unless en- 
abled to do so by the generosity or kindness of their firm or by 
special organizations in establishing savings funds or by benefit 
associations. So meagre is the wage that irregularity of employ- 
ment is disastrous to women. 



110 



Wage Worth of School Training 



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815 


, 1 

II 



114 Wage Worth of School Training 



Experience 
32 
31 



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2wk 

I wk 



»7. 2% 3% 4% 5% b% 77 Bf* 9% 10 f. \\J. \l1. 
Chakt 11. Percentage of Workers at Each Year at Present Work — 
515 Records. 



School History Group 115 

Seasonal Occupations 

Seasonal occupations in the factory wage-earning world are 
so numerous, the inducements of manufacturers with but short 
seasons of large output are so alluring, that many workers, unin- 
formed as to the duration of the work, enter a line of occupation 
which after a few months is shut down. Perhaps the higher wage 
has induced them to leave a lower paid place in a smaller factory, 
and, unless somebody takes an interest and informs them of the 
uncertainty of the higher wage offered, these uninformed women 
will join the army of unemployed when the busy season is at an 
end. It should be a manufacturer's problem of most serious 
import to extend his business uniformly throughout the year. 
Not only is this necessary for the workers, but it is profitable for 
the manufacturer to retain his good workers and their loyalty 
and support in times of labor stress. He will feel the deteriora- 
tion of work and a certain unwillingness, perhaps resistance, of 
his factory force, if he has to deal with a constantly shifting body 
of workers. So that the benefit to the worker of all-year-round 
employment is of equal benefit to the management. 

The suggestion of dovetailing occupations, by which to fill 
out a complete year of work, would be helpful, did any one under- 
stand the varieties of operations, closely allied, which would simi- 
larly occupy the workers, calling upon the same kind of operative 
skill transferred from one article to another; a generally informed 
person would be required to make necessary readjustments of 
the workers in these seasonal occupations. Such readjustments 
would call for an employment bureau in every industry to in- 
terest itself in the technique of the operations, as well as in the 
ability of the workers, so as to make adjustments profitable to 
workers and employers alike. This problem of adjusting sea- 
sonal occupations to afford continuous work for the workers is as 
difficult as it is to extend a present seasonal occupation through- 
out the year. Both are problems worthy of the best thought, 
and require persons trained in economics, of large experience 
and sound judgment. 

Chart 11, representing the number of workers at the different 
ages, shows the long line at 17 years of age; 20 per cent of these 
515 workers being 17 years of age; the next grouping is at 18 
years of age, 15.5 per cent; then follows 19 years at 10.5 per cent 
of the total number; then 16 years at 9.75 per cent of the total. 



116 



Wage Worth of School Training 



Number of Workers — I 

EarnTnqs — I 

Years at Present WorK — 1 




2.3-4 56789 IO II 
Number of Years ar School 



10 II 12 13 14 15 16 17 
Aqe at leavinq School 



Chart 12. Years in School; Age at Leaving School. 
Groups of Workers Compared by Percentages — 515 Records. 



School History Group 117 

Above 25 years of age, the number of workers at any one age is 
insignificant. The premium on the young girl in the factory 
wage-earning field is shown by this chart. 

Factors Influencing Length of Service 

There is little to induce women to remain at factory employ- 
ment as a life-work. Some women become forewomen, but like- 
wise the places are few as compared to the rank and file. The 
nimbleness and speed possible with the young worker is what is 
desired in this factory field. Even where women are employed al- 
most exclusively, men are placed over them in executive positions 
as foremen. This is regrettable, because women can manage their 
own kind as well as men can, and often better: they certainly 
understand the requirements of the articles made in textile man- 
ufacturing lines ; they have a feeling for the form of the article, the 
design, the decoration; they have equal administrative capacity, 
and, if given the opportunity to reach a forewoman's place, 
as men are led to advance to foremen's positions, more women 
would be retained, to the benefit of industry, beyond the age of 
25 years in this line of work. Where women are acting as fore- 
women, their work is most profitable to the firm, and, with so 
many young girls unaccustomed to the rigorous demands of in- 
dustry, a woman is better qualified to be her overseer than is a 
man. Moreover, for social protection, no workroom where 
women are employed should be without one responsible fore- 
woman in entire charge of the women. 

School Groups of Workers by Percentages Comparing 
Number, Earnings, Experience 

School groups of workers are shown in Charts 12 and 13 
and in Table XLI by percentages of number of workers, per- 
centages of earnings, and percentages of years at present work, 
and at the average wage per week, without reference to nation- 
ality. The largest number of records is seen to be between the 
6th and 9th year in school; between the 12th and 16th year of 
age at leaving school; between the 6th and 8th grade at leaving 
school and between the $6.00 and $9.00 wage per week. 

In the school group under the number of years at school, the 
column in the 6th year is nearly evenly divided between percent- 
age of number of workers, earnings and experience. 



118 



Wage Worth of School Training 



Numbers of Workers 

Earnings 

Years at Present WorK 




111 IV V VI VII VUlGrackHujh 1.50 5 6 7 8 9 10 II 12. 13 14 Iff 

Grade at Leavina School 4.50 Average Wage per Week. 17 

Chart 13. Grade at Leaving; Average Wage. 
Groups of Workers Compared by Percentages — 515 Records. 



School History Group 119 

In the 7th year at school, the wage is the shortest column and 
experience the longest. This is the legal year for leaving school. 
Many pupils have been held in school by law, not by desire to 
get what the school gives or by what they hope to get; so that 
latent wage-earning power is not apt to be the possession of those 
who are held in school by compulsion. 

In the 8th year at school, the number of workers portion of the 
column is larger than their earnings, which in turn, is larger than 
the experience required to earn that wage. It would seem that 
8 years in school enable the earning of a fair wage in less time 
than among workers who have spent only 7 years in school. 

The relationship between these three divisions of the column 
of the 9th year at school is about the same as for the 8th year. 

The 10th year in school, which brings the pupils into the high 
school, has only two records, hence does not carry weight. 

Graphic representation of Age at Leaving School shows the 
preponderance of the 14th year of age as the leaving age, corres- 
ponding to 8 years spent in school. It is fair to suppose that 
both groups are composed of nearly the same records. The 
relationship between percentages of number of workers, earnings, 
and experience is closely comparable in the 14-year-old group 
and the 8-years-at-school group. 

The 15-years-of-age group at once shows decrease in average 
experience needed to earn its average wage. 

Evenness of division between number, earnings, and experi- 
ence is shown in the 16-years-of-age group, indicating normality 
or average quality of the pupil who goes through the grammar 
school in regular time and grade with her normality as a wage- 
earner. 

In the 17-years-of-age group, of which we have only five 
records, the percentage of experience is considerably lower 
than the number of workers and the amount of their earnings. 
This tallies with the other graphs which show the benefit of high- 
school training on the girl as a wage-earner, or which show that 
the selection of the high-school girl is on a basis similar to her 
selection as a wage-earner. 

In Chart 13, showing the grade at leaving school, the 7th 
grade column corresponds in height to the 8th year column in 
the number of years at school. There is a similar correspond- 
ence in earnings and experience. Thus 8 years in school, 14 



120 Wage Worth of School Training 

years of age at leaving, and 7th grade, correspond in prominence 
and have similar relative proportion of number of workers, earn- 
ings and experience. 

In the 6th grade, the experience portion of the column is consid- 
erably less than the wage, which, in its turn, is a little less than 
the percentage of number of workers. This lesser experience to 
attain the wage in this group is hard to explain because of the 
meagerness of information conveyed by figures alone. Why the 
6th grade girl should take less time than does the 7th grade girl 
to earn her wage cannot be answered from these figures. There 
must be something in the individual records of these 
girls which, aggregating the results, cumulates into the figures 
shown. The markedly less time at work required by the grad- 
uate and the high-school girl is easily interpreted from her selec- 
tion in the school for this high grade of school work, classing her 
as the most complex mentality among factory wage-earners. 

In Chart 13, which represents the number of workers, earn- 
ings, and years at present work according to the wage, we see in 
the group of SI. 50 to $4.50 the small portion of time given to 
earning that wage. Experience increase is more rapid than wage 
increase. This is shown more plainly in Chart 14, which gives 
the percentage earnings, experience and ages of those whose wage 
is in the several quartiles. The proportion of the experience 
block to wage block is striking, and also clearly indicates that the 
textile employment is not a dead end occupation. 

Wage and Experience in Normal Progress Groups Compared with 

Age-Grade Groups 

[Tables XLII and XLIII. Charts 15 to 18] 

Median, Modal, and Average Curves are juxtaposed for the 
purpose of showing the difference in results from these three 
methods of calculating statistics. The general movement of the 
curves is naturally similar, since they all deal with the same 
figures. In most cases, the Average is the highest estimation, 
except at the extremes of the list of figures where numbers are 
few. This means that popular use of Averages results in a higher 
estimation of the generality when there are widely varying ex- 
tremes than results from either Median or Modal estimates. 

The basis of graphic comparison in these charts is the nu 'linn 
line at $7.24 and 2 years' experience. This median line of ex- 
perience is the same as the modal line of experience and in wage is 



Quartile 1 , 
$1.50 to $6.00 


16.1% Earnings 
fv^^L^Z_, 6.8% Exper. 
] 20.4% Age 


Quartile 2 , 
$6.00 to $7.28 


1 21.8% Earnings 
lISSllJM^ 19.9% Exper. 
1 23.5% Aee 


Quartile 3 i 
$7.28 to $8.60 


25.7% Earnings 
^^S^HHBB 31 3% Exper. 
1 26.8% Ace 


Quartile 4 i 
$8.60 to $17.00 


36.4% Earnings 
^^^^^^^^SBHB^S 41.9% Exper. 
1 29.2% Ace 


Chart 14. 


Quartiles of Earnings, Experience, and Ag( 



Wage 

Exper. 

Age 



Compared— 515 Records. 



School History Group 121 

four cents greater. Hence, it will serve as a line of comparison 
for both median and modal wage and experience. The average 
wage for the School History Group is $7.30; experience, 3f years. 
Nationality is not shown separately in these charts. The calcu- 
lations are made by Grades at Leaving School. 

In the lower school grades, these figures are affected by the 
foreign-born workers who have dropped into our school system 
for a year or two at whatever age they have come to this country. 
They are not the 4th year pupils, as we generally think of them, 
but the older girl who is eager to get all she can in the very short 
time she has to give to schooling in this country. This may ex- 
plain her wage-earning power with only 4th grade schooling. 

The line drops in the 5th grade considerably below the median 
line. It is a record of only three workers, which explains its be- 
ing so much out of line. 

In the 6th grade, the line rises almost to the median; in the 7th 
grade, drops a little below the 6th grade; is on about the same level 
in the 8th grade. The majority of pupils whose wage-earning 
is to be in the factory field leave in these grades. They leave 
school as soon as the law allows and, having little liking for studies 
or for academic thinking, and having equally limited training, 
show the result in limitation of wage-earning. Of course, among 
this number, are many who are forced to leave because of 
economic pressure. 

Among the graduates who are workers in the factory, the curve 
record drops to its next-to-lowest point. This may be explained 
by the predominance among them of ambitionless, unfocused 
girls, easily influenced by stray advice, who drift from place to 
place accumulating little experience that helps to increase wage- 
earning power. 

The high-school column at once pulls the line up to the $10.00 
wage. As has been said before, the high school selects from the 
many who leave the grammar school those who are ambitious to 
study and know how to apply themselves. This industry and 
ambition shows in the wage record of the girl. 

In comparing the Normal School Progress Group with the 
Normal School Age Group, one fact of difference must be borne 
in mind : that is, that two years are allowed to a grade in the Age- 
Grade Group as being normal; while only one year is allowed to 
each grade for the School Progress Group. This gives less margin 



122 



Wage Worth of School Training 



TABLE 

Medians, Modes, Averages, Middle 50 Per Cent of Weekly Wage and 

515 



Gbadb 


Under-age Group 


Normal Age 


III 






















IV 














2 






8.50 
4 


V 














1 








VI 


1 










9.00 

4i 


6 


9.25 
i 


9.00 
i 


9.17 


VII 


1 










7.00 

IS 


20 


7.66 

41 


8.00 

6 


7.68 
61 


VIII 


6 


8. S3 

m 


8.00 


7.50 

11 




9— 5 

SO— 1 


67 


7.55 
3 


8—7 

S 


7.64 
6k 




10 


6.50 


8.00 
0— 1\ 


7.48 

H 


10—5 


12—4 

4—i 


42 


6.50 

1\ 


6.00 

i 


7.05 

si 




High 














12 


6.00 


10.00 

4 


6.91 

S 




Total for Groups 


18 


7.20 

3 


8.00 


7.43 


8.50—8.25 

15— 11 


12—4 
18— i 


150 


6.94 


8.00 

i 


7.41 

4 




Rapid 


109 


7.55 


8.50 

S 


7.76 




Normal .... 


177 


6.94 


7.00 

s 


7.88 
4 




Slow 


229 


6.59 

$ 


7.00 

s 


7.06 




Under-age . . 


18 


7.20 

3 


8.00 


7.48 




Normal .... 


150 


6.94 

Si 


8.00 

i 


7.41 

4 




Over-age . . . 


347 


6.64 
* 


6 00 

s 


7 24 

3* 




Total 


515 


7.24 

* 


7.00 

s 


7.80 

.1 



School History Group 
XLII 

Yeabs at Present Work According to Age and Grade at Leaving School 
Records 



123 



Group 


Over-age Group 










6 


7.50 

4 


10.00 

4 


7.50 




10—1 

7—1 


Ill 


Wage 
Exper. 




10—7 

6—S 


11 


8.35 

4 


8 

i 


8.64 

si 


10—6 

i5— i 


17—5 
SI— i 


IV 


Wage 
Exper. 




7.00 

6 


37 


6.34 

S 


5—6.50 

2 


7.20 

Si 


8.50—6 

6-1 i 


15—4 

is— } 


V 


Wage 
Exper. 


9— 7 

4-\ 


13—8 


81 


6.67 

8 


7 

3 


7.21 

Si 


8.50—5.57 

4—1 


14—2 . 50 

S2— A 


VI 


Wage 
Exper. 


7.87—5.63 

is— u 


10—5.50 

ae— A 


160 


6.68 

2 


6—7 

2 


7.12 

*A 


8—5.14 

4—1 


14—2.50 

24— A 


VII 


Wage 
Exper. 


8.50 — 1.40 

7—1 


12—2.25 

24— A 


44 


7.30 

2 


8.00 

2 


7.34 

5i 


9—4.75 

5— i 


15—1.95 

2S— A 


VIII 


Wage 
Exper. 


8.66 — 1.90 

s—i 


14—1.50 


7 


6.00 

n 


6.00 

6—1 


7.43 


10—5.66 

«— 1 


12—5 

5— i 


Grad. 


Wage 
Exper. 


5.00—10 

4—\ 


10—4 


1 










5.00 
1 


High 


Wage 
Exper. 


8.67—6.66 

6—1 


14—1 . 50 

26— A 


347 


6.64 

2 


6.00 

2 


7.24 

Si 


8.55—5.31 

6—1 


17—1.95 

S3 — 1 wk. 




Wage 
Exper. 


8.07—5.86 
6—1 


14—4 

26*— A 


Wage 
Exper. 
















9.00—5.56 

6—1 


13—1.95 

32— A 


Wage 
Exper. 




7.85—5.36 

4$—l 


17—1 . 50 

28—1 


Wage 
Exper. 




8.60—6.25 

16— li 


12 — 4.00 

is— } 


Wage 
Exper. 




8.67—6.66 
6—1 


14—1 . 50 

26— A 


Wage 
Exper. 




8.55—5.31 

6—1 


17—1.95 

32— & 


Wage 
Exper. 




9.10—5.53 

5— 1 


17—1.50 

&8— A 


Wage 
Exper. 





124 



Wage Worth of School Training 

TABLE 
Medians, Modes, Averages, Middle 50 Per Cent of Weekly 

515 









Rapid Geoup 








Normal 


Grade 


No. of 
Workers 


Median 


Mode 


Aver. 


A/iMe 50% 


Range 


M>. 


Median 


Mode 


III 


3 


7.00 

4 


4 


7.67 

Si 




10.00—6.00 

4—2 








IV 


1 










7.00 

3 


4 


9.50 

16i 




V 


6 


• 75 


1 


7.42 


9.00—6.00 

H—4i 


11.00—5.00 

9—1 


3 


5.00 

H 




VI 


11 


9.00 

3 


11.00-9.00 

4h 


9.45 
81 


11.00—8.00 

4—H 


12.00—6.00 

5—1 


23 


7.00 

Si 


5.00 

4 


VII 


27 


7.60 

2 


8.00 

2 


8.15 
28 


9.33—6.00 

4—i 


13.00—5.00 

10— & 


60 


6.66 

2 


7.66 

2 


VIII 


40 


7.05 

Si 


8.00 

2— 20\ 


7.28 


8—5 . 70 

io— n 


14.00—2.25 

SOi— & 


53 


6.84 
1\ 


8—7 
2 


Grad 


15 


7.35 

*1 


12—8 
1\ 


8.05 

21 


10.60—6.25 


12.00—4.00 

6—1 


28 


6.50 
21 


6—6 

li 




High 


6 


5.25 

I 


5.00 

1 


5.92 

1 


7.00—5.00 
/—I 


9.00—4.00 

i—i 


6 


7.75 


10 00 

•4 




Total for Groups. . 


109 


7.55 


8.00 

e 


7.76 


8.87—5.86 
5—1 


14—4 

soi— A 


177 


6.94 

* 


7 00 

* 












Total School Group 


515 


7.24 

* 


7.99 
I 



School History Group 
XLIII 

Wage and Years at Present Work According to School Progress 
Records 



125 



Gbottp 


Slow Group 


Ghade 




Ater. 


Middle 50% 


Range 


No. 


Median 


Mode 


Aver. 


Middle 50% 


fionje 










3 


8.00 

4i 




7.38 

4i 




10—4 

7—1 


III 


Wage 
Exper. 


9.50 

16i 




12—7 

SI— 3 


8 


8.00 
*1 


8.00 

i 


8.38 

5i 


8—5.50 


17—5 

IS— J 


IV 


Wage 
Exper. 


7.50 

Si 




13—4.50 

7—1 


29 


6.80 

2 


6.50 

S 


7.12 

Si 


7.75—5.25 

6—li 


15—4 

IS— bV 


V 


Wage 
Exper. 


7.72 


9.50—5.10 
6— ft 


13—4 

SS—h 


54 


6.59 

S 


7.00 

s 


6.80 

3 


7.50—5.09 

4—1 


14—2.50 

15— & 


VI 


Wage 
Exper. 


7.09 

4i 


8,13— 5 25 
5— J 


13—3.50 

S5—h 


94 


8.56 

2 


6.00 

i 


6.93 

Si 


7.56—5.50 

4J— i 


14—2.50 

U—h 


VII 


Wage 
Exper. 


7.32 
Si 


8.25—5.60 
5— \ 


12—1.95 

18— h 


24 


7.84 
5 


10-9-8 

10-4-i 


8.04 

6A 


9.67—5.50 


15—2 

28—1 


VIII 


Wage 
Exper. 


7.09 


8.87—5.25 

Si— 1 


12—4.50 

U—i 


16 


5.37 


6.00 


6.42 


9.25—4.00 

4— i 


14—1 . 50 

0— A 


Grad. 


Wage 
Exper. 


8.08 

Si 


9.35—6.25 

4—n 


10—6 

e—i 


1 










4 

S 


High 


Wage 
Exper. 


7.S8 
4 


9.50—5.66 

5—1 


13—1.95 

SS—h 


229 


6.59 

8 


7.09 

IB 


7.05 

s& 


7.85—5.86 

4i— i 


17—1.50 

S8—lwk. 




Wage 
Exper. 


7.80 

Si 


9.10—5.52 

6—1 


17—1.50 

SS—1 


Wage 
Exper. 















126 



Wage Worth of School Training 




Normal Progress 
Wage Curves 



111 IV V V VII V11I Grad..Hiqh III IV V VI VII V1I1 Cr&A Hiqh 



Normal Ag& 

Experience Curves 




Normal Age 
Wage Curves 



Medians Modes _„__Averages of Wage and Experience 



Chart 15. Medians Modes -.-.-.- Averages of Wage 

and Experience, according to School Progress and Age-Grade 
Groups — 515 Records. 



School History Group 127 

for individual differences in School Progress grouping than in 
Age-Grade grouping. To spend two years in a grade would not 
be normal progress, but the calculation of two years for the normal 
school-age in a grade means that the child may enter the school 
at 6 or 7 years and be entirely normal. 

In handling statistical groups, this difference in calculation 
makes a difference in the curves, as does also the advanced age 
of the foreigner who enters the school in the lower grades. She 
may spend one year in a grade and be perfectly normal as to 
progress, but belong to another group in considering school age 
grouping. 

With this difference explained, we notice the general drop of 
these curves in the graduates' column as was the case in the 
Normal School Progress Group. The record of these graduates 
shows a wage of $6.00, while the median for the entire group is 
$7.24. We also notice the rise in the high-school column to 
$10.00, which is largely due to the few records. 

Turning to a consideration of the experience curves in the 
Normal Progress Group, we find that those who left in the 4th 
grade of the grammar school have spent most time at their pres- 
ent work; then comes the drop in the 5th grade to below the 
median experience of 2 years; the rise to the normal line of 2 
years' experience in the 6th grade, adhering to the median ex- 
perience in the 7th grade, and falling a little below to the median 
line in the 8th and graduates' columns; then the rise in the 
high-school column to 4 years' experience. 

The experience curve in the 4th grammar grade, which touches 
the 12-year mark, is the record of the workers who are earinng 
$9.00, which is the apex of the wage curve in the 4th grammar 
grade. At the other end of the curve, the 4 years' ex- 
perience in the high-school column is the $10.00 wage in the 
corresponding column of the wage curves. A like tendency of 
wage and experience curves to correspond is shown in the normal 
age groups. 



128 



Wage Worth of School Training 



Slow Progress 



Experience 
( Curves 




Medians 

Modes _,_,_,_ 

Averages ..ofvVaaeand Experience \ / 



Chart 16. Medians Modes -.-.-.-.- Averages of Wage 

and Experience according to School Progress and Age-Grade 
Groups — 515 Records. 



School History Group 129 

Slow and Over-age Groups 

In comparing the Slow School Progress Group with the Over- 
age Group, slow scholars who have taken more than the one year 
to the grade are compared with over-age scholars who were older 
than the stipulated age allotted to each grade. 

Slow Progress Group Wage Curve 

With the median wage at $7.24 per week, workers who have 
been slow in their progress through school and who have left 
school in the 3rd grade earn $8.00 per week; in the 4th grade, 
they still earn $8.00; in the 5th grade, the curve falls to $6.50. 
Those leaving in the 6th grade and progressing slowly through 
school earn the median wage, $7.00. In the 7th grade, the curves 
drop to $6.00. This is the grade in which many pupils leave be- 
cause the law then allows them to get their working-papers. In 
the 8th grade, we find the rise of all the curves to $8.00, $9.00 
and $10.00. The 8th grade often makes its selection from those 
whom the law permits to leave and those who remain in school. 
This one year of ambition greater than that shown by the major- 
ity of school pupils is registered in the increased wage. 

The curves drop in the graduates' column, as do also the 
number of records which are being considered. This decrease in 
number of records may be a determining factor in this curve-drop. 
But many pupils are held through the 8th grade by the fact that 
it is the last year in school. Many, too, regard their education 
as complete at this point of departure, and the quality of their 
wage-earning power is impaired by this self-satisfaction. There 
is only one record of a slow progress scholar going to the High 
School. 

The Over-age Group wage curves follow quite closely the Slow 
Progress Group curves, with a little more emphasis at one point 
than at another, but the same general explanations will apply 
to both. 

Slow Progress Group Experience Curve 

The experience curve of the Slow Progress Group shows that 
those who have left school in the 3rd grade give 4| years at 
their present work to earn a wage of $8.00; in the 4th grade, they 
give 2\ years to earn this same $8.00 wage — the records at the 
small wage end of the line are too few to be trustworthy. In 



130 



Wage Worth of School Training 




Medians 

Modes _._._ 

Averages of Wages and 

Experience 



Chart 17. Medians — Modes Averages of Wages and 

Experience according to School Progress and Age Grade Groups — 515 
Records. 



School History Group 131 

the 5th grade, where the numbers are larger, 2 years' experience 
gains a wage of $6.80 per week. In the 6th grade, a median 
experience of 2 years earns a median wage of $6.59 per week. 
At this point, the medians and the modes closely approach. 

In the 7th grade, the median remains at 2 years in experience; 
also, the wage is stationary at $6.56. The 7th grade girl earns 
her small wage in the median time, 2 years. 

The 8th grade girl earns a wage, $7.84, considerably increased 
over that of the 7th grade girl, but she also takes longer to earn 
that wage, 5 years as compared with 2 years. Then comes the 
drop in the graduates' column of all lines. 

Over-age Group Experience Curve 

The experience curve in the Over-age Group shows consider- 
able variation over the experience curve in the Slow Progress 
Group. Beginning in the 3rd grade with 4 years' experience to 
gain a $7.50 wage per week, the median curve remains at the same 
level in the 4th grade ; while the median wage in this 4th grade of 
the Over-age Group rises to $8.35 per week. 

The records are few in these lower grades, as has been stated 
before, so that the curves are not certain, but, in the 5th, 6th and 
7th grades, the numerous records carry more indicative inter- 
pretations. 

These grades show 2 years as median and modal experience. 
The wage also is close to the group median line. The average 
curve shows a 3£ year experience to gain the median wage of $7.24. 
The modal experience of 2 years in these grades is accompanied 
by considerably less than the modal wage, ranging from $5.00 
in the 5th grade to $8.00 in the 8th grade. Thus the over-age 
girl in the 8th grade makes a good wage-earner, requiring but 2 
years' experience to earn an $8.00 wage; while the slow progress 
girl in the 8th grade takes between 4 and 10 years of experience 
to earn a wage between $8.00 and $10.00. The over-age girl in 
school is not the backward girl at wage-earning. 

The same drop in the graduate year is noticed in the experi- 
ence of the Over-age Group and, likewise, the drop in the wage 
of the Over-age Group as in the Slow Group. A few cases carry 
one arm of the modal experience up to 5 years, but the other 
lines incline toward the 2 and 1 year experience mark. 



132 Wage Worth of School Training 

Rapid Progress Group — Wage and Experience Curve 

The Rapid School Progress Group — meaning that the girl has 
been a less number of years in school than is required by the 
grade at which she left — shows in Chart 17 in the wage curve 
good wage-earning power on the part of these bright school 
pupils. All of these lines are above the median line for the 
group until the drop in the high-school column. The correspond- 
ing experience curves for this same Rapid School Progress Group 
also show that these particular school pupils require more than the 
2 years' median experience for the group, as almost all of the 
curves are above the 2-year line. The bright pupils in school 
seem to be able to earn above the median wage, with the excep- 
tion of those having high school records, but it takes them more 
than the median time in which to earn that wage. They are 
ambitious, evidently, in wage-earning, but they require time to 
mature into average wage-earners. 

The drop in the high school column in wage is accompanied 
by the drop in experience, showing that this same bright school- 
girl, when she leaves the high school to go to work, starts in at a 
wage which, in half a year, becomes $5.00. 

Under-age Group 

In the Under-age Group, the numbers are so few that the curves 
are insignificant. 

General Results 

Totaling the results of the School Progress Group, Chart 18, 
the median, modal, and average wage curves are close together, 
the rapid group aggregating at $8.00 weekly wage, the normal 
group at $7.00 and $7.50 wage, and the slow group at $6.50 to 
$7.00. In the grammar grades this means that bright pupils may 
be looked upon as good prospective wage-earners; normal pupils 
as probable median wage-earners, and slow pupils as likely to 
be slightly below median. 

Summary for the experience record of the School Progress 
Group shows rapid pupils require from 2\ to 4 years' experience 
or \ to 2 years above median experience to earn this $8.00 wage, 
or 75 cents above median wage; normal pupils require a median 



School History Group 



133 



Rapid 



Wage 



Total Progress 
Wage Curves 



Rapid Normal Slow 



Underage Normal Overage 



Med Tan 



Exper. 



Underage Normal Overage 



Medi, 



Wage 



\ 



Total Age-Grade 
Wage Curves 



Med'an 

Modes _,_,_,_,_ 

Averages or Wage and 

Experience 



\ 



V. 



Median 




Chaet 18. Medians Modes -.-.-.-.- Averages of Wage 

and Experience according to School Progress and Age-Grade 
Groups — 515 Records. 



134 Wage Worth of School Training 

experience of 2 years to earn the $7.00 wage, 24 cents below me- 
dian wage; slow pupils keep pace with normal pupils in wage- 
earning. 

Summary of results for Age Grade Group is similar to School 
Progress Group. Under-age pupils earn from $7.00 to $8.00, 
while their experience to earn this wage is 3 years. Normal 
pupils, likewise, earn from $7.00 to $8.00, but their experience 
for this wage-earning is less than 1 year. Over-age pupils take 
the median number of years to earn between $6.00 and $7.00 in 
wage. The Under-age pupils take longer, as did Rapid pupils, 
to earn the same wage as Normal pupils, but Normal Age pupils' 
experience is less to earn the same wage as Normal Progress 
pupils. It is thus seen that the over-age schoolgirl and the slow 
schoolgirl are not at a disadvantage in factory wage-earning. 



II 

WAGE AND EXPERIENCE INDICES COMPARED 

ACCORDING TO NATIVITY AND NUMBER OF YEARS 

AT SCHOOL 

In the curves following, the light solid line indicates the workers 
of American parentage, which, of course, means American nativity. 
The dotted line represents the American-born of foreign parents, 
and the heavy, solid line represents the foreign-born. 

The line at Figure "1" in the graphic curve representation in 
Charts 19, 20, 21, 22 shows the average wage and the average 
experience for the School History Group. 

Everything above "1" means more than the average wage of 
$7.30 per week and more than the average experience of 3 years 
and 9 months to attain this $7.30 wage. 

The curves of the total workers, irrespective of nationality — 
in fact, including all nationalities — are represented in the third 
grouping on this horizontal average line by the beaded lines. 

Years at School 

In the first plotted curve, Chart 19, the fluctuation of the 
wage index is represented, comparing the wage earned by the 
groups of workers leaving school after attending the same number 
of years. All those leaving school after attending one year are 
represented in column 1; those leaving school after attending 
two years have been bulked in column 2; and so on to the eleventh 
column, which represents eleven years at school. 

FOREIGN-BORN 

The wage curve rises in the Foreign-born Workers' Group 
to the highest point after having been four years at school. 
Among the foreigners, those attending school four years earn 
a higher wage per week at present than do those who have 
attended school nine years. The whole present-wage-curve for 
foreigners is above the average line. This may mean several 
things: foreigners have probably dropped into the American 
school system at the point convenient to them; may have been 
mature when they began their schooling here; some have stayed 

135 



136 



Wage Worth of School Training 



American Parentage 



American- bom-Foreign Parentage Foreigr 

All Nationalities 
Wage Curve — ■— — 
Exper. Curve — •— «- 




Experience Curves 



Waqe and 
Experience Curves 



4,00 
3.50 
3.00 
2.80 
2 60 
2.40 
2 20 
2.00 
1.80 
1.60 
1.40 
I 20 
1.00 
80 
.60 



Tears I t 34 5 6 76 9lOll Years 123456789 10 fl Years I 23456789 10 II 

Chart 19. Nativity and Number of Years in School compared by means of Wage and 
Experience Indices. 



Wage and Experience Indices 137 

one year, and others have stayed nine years. They have gained 
what they could, according to the varying degree in which they 
were mentally prepared for receiving what our American schools 
had to give them. The result of what they have obtained in 
school seems to have no consistent and progressive result upon 
their wage-earning ability. 

It would need a knowledge of the life history and social condi- 
tions of each worker to interpret with any approach to correct- 
ness and adequacy the variations in the results of this irregular 
number of years at school and the corresponding variation in 
present wage. From the bare fact which the figures give, the 
four-year term at school for these foreign-born workers is more 
adequate than is a nine-year term at school in its effect on 
present wage-earning. 

The one undeniable and significant fact is, that foreigners, 
without reference to their school preparation, can earn more than 
Americans and more than the average, $7.30, of all the workers 
in this School History Group. 

Of 104 workers, 72 earn $8.00 or over; 11 earn $7.00; 21 earn 
less than $7.00; but 13 of these were beginners. 



xduding beginners 






Including beginners 






7 with 1 year's schooling earn $9 . 14 


4 with 1 year's sc 


hooling 


earn $9.50 


7 "2 years' 


" 


' 7.85 


8 "2 years' 


n 


" 8.06 


2 " 3 " 


it 


' 7.50 


3 " 3 " 


a 


" 8.67 


3 " 4 " 


" 


' 10.33 


4 « 4 « 


" 


" 10.25 


6 " 5 " 


" 


' 10.83 


8 " 5 " 


" 


" 9.75 


16 " 6 " 


" 


" 9.25 


19 " 6 " 


" 


" 7.95 


17 " 7 " 


<< 


' 8.50 


21 " 7 " 


" 


" 8.24 


23 " 8 " 


ti 


' 9.00 


25 " 8 " 


" 


" 8.08 


9 " 9 " 


" 


' 10.00 


12 " 9 " 


it 


" 8.96 



Excluding beginners, 18 of 90 had less than 4 years school but 
earned an average of $8.33. Of 18 who earned $11 .00 or over only 
4 had reached the 8th grade. Nine had not advanced beyond 
the 6th grade; of these 2 received $13.00; and the only one earning 
the largest wage, $15.00, left in the 5A. In contrast, of 18 receiv- 
ing $8.00, one half only were in the 8th grade and 6 were in the 
6th grade. 

It would seem that for foreign-born, after learning the elements 
of reading, writing and arithmetic in the first five years at school 
when the highest average wage, $10.83, follows, under present 
school methods not only is longer schooling undesirable but even 
prejudicial to wage-earning. 



138 



Wage Worth of School Training 



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a a 

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Wage and Experience Indices 



139 



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140 Wage Worth of School Training 

This fact, if substantiated by other inquirers, suggests that 
important improvements are essential in school methods. It 
implies that eventual wage-earning capacity is impaired by 
laxity in school discipline and by wasting time and effort in the 
schoolroom. 

The brain complex of the school-trained child tends, it is true, 
toward quicker comprehension of operative mechanism and 
methods; this ability to attain the average wage quickly is offset 
by lack of continued interest, application, attention, concentration 
and effort and does not result in continued wage-earning power. 
These figures indicate that this is possessed in larger degree by 
foreigners whose powers have not been impaired or enervated by 
the shut-in classroom and by learning impractical methods which 
later, in practical life, must be eradicated. 

The foreign-born girl in the factory seems to have a slower 
power of grasping information, due perhaps to conflict of language, 
a certain rigidity of mind, and a general slower mental pace 
among her people. Slowness in learning may well have its 
corollary in not quickly forgetting; and bad methods slowly 
learned in school are slowly lost. 

In contrast, the American girl, alert and quick-minded, learns 
quickly and, likewise forgetting quickly, loses rapidly the slow 
school methods and soon adopts the speedy factory ways. 



Number of Years at Present Work 

Another factor bears upon the wage-earning situation, i.e., the 
number of years spent at present work. On the original records 
turned in by workers themselves, experience in any other position 
which was not closely related in character of work to the present 
work was not added to their years at present work. For instance: 
if a worker reported that she had been a stove-setter for two years 
before going into the textile manufacturing line, these two years 
were not added to her years at present work; but, if she had been 
two years in a similar line of occupation, i.e., in the textile industry, 
the time she reported at that work was added to her years at 
present work ; so that the figure for experience of each worker was 
the cumulative figure representing experience which definitely 
counted toward her present wage. 



Wage and Experience Indices 141 

Foreign-Born 

Foreign-born workers, whose wage-curve has just been analyzed, 
show an experience curve .25 below the average in years of ex- 
perience, 58 having less than 4 years. These are perhaps the for- 
eign girls who could afford only one year of American schooling. 
The foreign-born who earns nearly one-half more than the average 
wage after four years spent at school has spent over 2.5 the 
average time in attaining and holding that wage; so that, while 
four years at school seem to be sufficient to make the foreign- 
born wage-earner a better money-earner than nine years at school, 
the time which the four-year school worker required to gain and 
hold that wage was 2.5 times more than the average time required 
for the entire group. The girl who spent 4 years at school was 
a good wage-earner, as factory wages go, but she had spent 
many more years attaining and holding that wage than the girl 
who had been nine years at school, who, in order to earn and hold 
her smaller wage (only 25 per cent above the average), required 
25 per cent more than the average time. 



American Workers of Foreign Parentage 

The curve in Chart 19 begins in the second year column, a 
little below the average wage for the group. It likewise rises in 
the 4th year of schooling to a few points above the average line, 
drops in the 5th year slightly below the average and gradually 
rises to a greater height in the 10th year than it had attained in 
the 4th year. This point represents the High School Group, 
who are few in number among factory workers and corre- 
spondingly few in the returns to this inquiry, so that the figures 
are affected, doubtless, by this small number in comparison to the 
bulk numbers in the lower grades in the grammar school; but 
there is an encouraging indication that ten years in school for the 
American-born girl of foreign parentage is worth more than four 
years in school to a girl of the same nativity and parentage. 
Eleven years in school brings the record to just about the average 
wage. Were the number of replies greater, this drop from the 
point reached by the ten years' schooling might not have occurred. 
Of course, girls who have been in school ten and eleven years are 
naturally selected from a different economic and social condi- 



142 Wage Worth of School Training 

tion in life than are the girls who leave in the early grades of the 
grammar school. Here, too, home background has much to do 
with the quality of the worker; has much to do also with maintain- 
ing her standards of health, which enable her to be a good or a 
poor wage-earner. Many other factors enter into the determin- 
ation of a girl's wage-earning power, justifying a life history of 
each individual worker to get at all the influences affecting her 
as a wage-earner; but this inquiry has confined itself to such facts 
as the wage-earner would give. 

Turning to the corresponding experience of the American-born 
of foreign parents, we find that the dotted line begins in the 
second year more than .50 below the average experience for that 
second year. It rises in the third year, following the wage curve 
to a little above the average, and, in the 4th year, is almost on a 
par with the wage point on the curve. In the 5th year, it drops 
below the wage curve; then rises with the wage curve above the 
average in the 6th year; in the 9th year drops to about the 
same level that the wage curve reaches; then, in the 10th year, 
drops to the .80 point in the experience curve, while the wage 
curve rises to its highest point in this tenth year of schooling. 
This means that the American girl of foreign parentage who has 
had ten years of schooling requires .80 less than the average time 
to attain .20 more than the average wage. 

In the 11th year, the experience curve rises to .75 more than 
the average, while the wage curve falls to about the average. This 
is an eccentricity of the figures explained by the fact that the 
record is of one worker. This isolated case distorts the averaging. 

American Parentage 

Finally, we turn to the record of the American worker. Born 
in this country of American parents, she has no records of less 
schooling than five years. Beginning at this point with a wage 
above the average, in the 7th year it drops to a little below the 
average, then rises in the 8th year somewhat above the average, 
and drops in the 9th, 10th and 11th years steadily to .80 
below the average. This drop in the wage curve, with the in- 
creasing years at school, is due largely to the smaller numbers, 
as well as to the fact that the American-born girl of American 
parentage who has been to the high school and yet finds her work 



Wage and Experience Indices 143 

in the factory is the poorest equipped girl mentally of the high 
school group. 

High-school preparation turns the attention of most girls to 
lines of work other than those found in the factory. Those who 
drift into the factory have perhaps been failures elsewhere; are, 
perhaps, not strong enough physically to stand the competition 
of high-class work in other industrial lines; or, as the experience 
curve shows a point still further below the average line, these 
workers are just starting their wage-earning career and have not 
yet found themselves nor their work. A few years at work may 
find them, if they persist in the factory, as head of their work 
tables and earning creditable wages. But the fact that so few 
replies have been received to this inquiry from high-school girls 
in factories indicates that there may not be many with high-school 
education in textile factory work. 

The experience curve closely follows the wage curve of the 
American-born worker, with the exception that at 8 years, the 
wage curve is above the average line, while the experience curve 
is below the average. 

The summary of results in the third figure on the average line, 
in which nationalities are blended and do not play their signifi- 
cant individual role, shows the averaging of the figures represented 
in the other two curves. It shows the peak in the 4th year of 
experience and drop in the 5th year prominent in the foreign- 
born workers' experience curve. It also shows the rise in the 
wage curve in the 10th year due to the American worker of 
foreign parentage, with the corresponding drop in experience in 
the 10th year due to the American-born worker. 



144 



Wages Worth of School Training 



American Parentac 



Foreign Parentage 



Fore'iar 





All Nationalities 
Wage Curve - 
Exper Curve — 



it 



J. 50 

3 00 

280 

2.60 

240 

220 

2.00 

1.80 

1.60 

i.AO 

1-20 

■ 1.00 

.60 

.60 

.AO 

JO 



•Oil 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 



(On 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 



V V 



10 ii 12 O 14 15 16 17 



Chart 20. Nativity and Age at Leaving School compared by means of Wage and Experience 

Indices. 



Ill 

WAGE AND EXPERIENCE INDICES COMPARED BY 
NATIVITY AND AGE AT LEAVING SCHOOL 

Foreign-Born 

Chart 20 shows a naturally close resemblance to the charts 
just described representing the number of years in school. The 
foreign-born workers have the same wage record above the average 
throughout, excepting that the rise in the 18th year of age at 
leaving school is above any other point on the curve. Relating 
this curve to the experience curve, we find the foreign worker 
who has left school at 15 years of age dropping about .25 below 
the average for experience at that age, while earning about .15 
more than the average wage at that age of leaving school. Fif- 
teen years of age at leaving school means about the 8th grade, 
or a grammar school education. This has evidently prepared 
these foreign-born workers to get a little more than the average 
wage in considerably less than the average time. It is the 
point at which the majority of workers leave school who are des- 
tined for a factory wage-earning career, and the majority 
ability is shown in the records. 

Sixteen years of age at leaving school brings the experience 
curve .50 above the average point, while the wage curve is main- 
tained at about the same level, a little above the average wage. 
This would seem to show that the 16-year-old girl who leaves 
school to go to work is the mentally slow girl, since it takes her 
so much longer to earn a wage equal to that earned by the girl 
who leaves school at 15 years of age. 

There is a decided drop almost to the average line in the wage 
and experience records of the girls at 17 years of age at leaving 
school. They probably entered high school and had that ex- 
tension of mental horizon which high school work brings to the 
grammar school student and, barring the fact that only a few 
records are represented in this graph at this point, it would 
seem to show the important reaction of more extended 
school work upon wage-earning ability. This is still more em- 
phasized at the 18th year column, where the experience curve 
touches the average line for the foreign-born worker, while the 
wage curve is at its highest point. 

n 146 



146 Wage Worth of School Training 

American Workers of Foreign Parentage 

The records of this worker differ somewhat from the foreigner's. 
At 10 years of age, on leaving school, her wage starts a little below 
the average, while her experience is .40 above the average. The 
wage hovers closely along the average line in the 11th year, 
rising a little in the 12th year of age at leaving school. The 
experience curve, however, rises in the 11th year to a point 3.50 
above the average. This drops in the 12th, 13th and 14th years 
to a point a little below the average line. The eccentricity of this 
curve in its 11th year cannot be explained adequately by the 
facts represented by these figures. The experience of the 
American worker of foreign parentage finds its lowest point at 

17 years of age at leaving school; also the lowest wage point is at 
this same age. 

In the 18th year, the rise of both curves — wage and experience — 
to the average line shows the averaging effect on the production 
of the normal worker through the extension of the schooling to 

18 years of age. 

American Parentage 

The American-born worker of American parentage who leaves 
school at 10 years of age earns a wage .25 above the average, with 
an experience record a point above the average. At the 12th 
year, the American-born drops the wage-earning figure below the 
average, while the experience curve rises a little above the aver- 
age, showing either a lack of mental grasp or of ambition. The 
American girl who leaves school at 12 years of age and earns less 
than the average wage with more than the average time put on 
such work, is a girl probably, whose school record would show a 
similar rating. She remains mentally 12 years old. The wage 
at 13, 14 and 15 years of age at leaving school is almost on the 
average line. This is the normal girl who goes to school up to 
the working-paper age and then, perhaps because of economic 
pressure of the home upon her, begins her wage-earning career. 
She is the normal-minded girl, and the experience record shows 
that she gets this average wage in somewhat less than the average 
time. 

The 16-year-old American girl at leaving school who earns, 
after an average experience of 4 years, only $5.75 per week, 
shows her mental slowness in her work. 



Wage and Experience Indices 147 

The highest point in the wage curve of the American worker 
is reached at 17 years of age at leaving school. The experience 
curve follows this upward direction of the wage curve, which 
shows that the girl at 17 years of age who leaves the public school 
is not the bright girl of 17 years of age. It takes her longer to 
earn this wage, although it is above the average wage, than it 
does the girl at 14 and 15 years of age who earns only the average 
wage, but in much less than the average time. 

Summary of Indices Curves According to Age at Leaving 
School 

The summary of these results of the workers, irrespective of 
nationality, shows the wage curve beginning a little above the 
average of 10 years leaving age, keeping closely to the average 
point up to 17 years of age and then rising at 18 years of age to 
the highest point on the wage curve. The experience curve 
begins near the average line; at 10 years leaving age rises abruptly 
to its exaggerated high point in the 11th year; drops steadily to 
its lowest point at the 15th year; rises to the average at the 16th; 
drops again at the 17th; rises to the average at 18 years leaving 
age. 

These abrupt risings and fallings cannot be explained from the 
restricted individual history which this inquiry gives and which 
figures alone are used to represent. 



148 



Wage Worth of School Training 



American Parentaqe 




Foreign Parentage ■ 




! i 



! i 
I/' 1 



Foreign- born 

All Nationalities 

Waqe Curve 

Ex per. Curve 



A 
I \ 



V/ ' -k 



A. 00 
3 50 
3.00 
2.00 

2 60 
2.40 
2.20 
2,00 
1.80 

1:60 
1.40 
1.20 
1.00 
.60 
.60 
.AO 
.20 
. 



in tv vvivnvmGcHiqh 



111 IV V VlVUVlIlGr.Hujh 



\ 



lUI IV V VlVHVniGr.HifjIi 



Chart 21. Nativity and Grade at Leaving School compared by means of Wage and 
Experience Indices. 



IV 

WAGE AND EXPERIENCE INDICES COMPARED BY 
NATIVITY AND GRADE AT LEAVING SCHOOL 

Chart 21, expressing results as summarized in the grades at 
leaving school, shows the same general tendencies that the two 
previous charts have shown, because the grouping according to 
the number of years of school and the grouping according to the 
age at leaving school have both fallen into their respective school 
grade columns. 

Wage Indices — Foreign-Boen 

The striking feature is the wage curve of the foreign-born, 
which rises in the 4th grade to .25 above the average wage, 
steadily falls to nearly the average in the 7th grade, then rises 
in the 8th and among the graduates attains its greatest height, 
dropping to its lowest point .80 below the average in the high 
school. This drop may be explained by the single case which it 
registers. The rise among the graduates is due, no doubt, to the 
quality of the girls that go through grammar school to the gradu- 
ating point. The foreigner who is beyond economic pressure to 
such a point that she can complete her grammar school education 
is generally of such inherited background as to make her a high- 
grade wage-earner. It is the natural dropping-off place in the 
school career of the majority of this type of wage-earners. 

Were this an inquiry into the wage scale and educational prep- 
aration of office workers, the selection thus made for such work 
would be from the class of girls that pursues its education to 
high school; in which case, from the indications of the curves of 
the grammar school education, we have every reason to believe 
that the high school worker would bring the curve in an ascend- 
ing line from the average line; but that is a field apart from this 
inquiry, which aims to deal with the factory type of girl com- 
prising a majority of wage-earning women. Her problems are 
pressing problems for educators, who share with the parents the 
large responsibility of preparing the girl for a profitable wage- 
earning career. The responsibility of the school is greater, be- 
cause of the limited time her financial circumstances allow for 
preparation. 

149 



150 Wage Worth of School Training 

Wage Indices — Foreign Parentage 

The wage curve for the American-born worker of foreign 
parentage begins in the 3rd grade almost .50 below the average 
wage; rising in the 4th grade to a little above the average; drop- 
ping in the 5th grade to below the average, and meeting the 
average line in the 6th grade, remaining close to it in the 7th 
grade; on the line again in the 8th grade and dropping below 
the average line among the graduates; rising above the average 
line for the high school. This line keeps very close to the aver- 
age line, with no deviation marked enough to be of special sig- 
nificance. Here, too, the rise among the high school pupils is 
encouraging. 

Wage Indices — American Parentage 

The wage curve for the American-born worker remains close 
to the average line throughout its course. It is the average 
American girl of this inquiry who goes into the factory wage- 
earning world, and she has there an average career. 

Experience Indices 

The experience curve for these same three nativities has a 
devious course. There is much less similarity in the record of 
years spent at present work among workers than there is in the 
wage. 

Experience Indices — Foreign-Born 

The experience curve for the foreign-born follows quite closely 
the experience curve for the number of years spent in school, with 
the exception that it begins in the 3rd grade above the average 
line, showing that the girl leaving in the 3rd grade is not the 
same girl whose record is plotted in the previous experience 
curve as leaving after one year at school. 

The peak in the 4th grade corresponds in abruptness to the 
peak recording four years of school, which probably means the 
same group of girls. The course of this curve is about the same 
as the previous curve until the graduate and high school year, 
where the line takes a rapid descent to its lowest point. This 
records the case of the foreign girl, whose experience is only a 
quarter of a year in length and who earns $5.00 and is at the same 



Grade at Leaving School 151 

time second-year high school girl; but again this isolated case 
twists the line from what might be its course, were the record from 
many workers. 

Foreign Parentage 

This worker has both wage and experience considerably below 
the average with a 3rd grade school record; the 4th grade group 
earn $1.50 more than the average wage but record 2 years more 
than the average experience; the 5th grade group fall below the 
average wage but have less than average experience, the 6th 
grade group earn slightly more than average wage with only 2| 
years' experience; the 7th grade group are not equal to the 6th 
grade as wage-earners; 8th grade group make a still poorer 
showing, recording 2 years more than the average experience to 
earn $7.02 per week. The graduates earn $6.35 with 2 years' 
experience, the High School Group $7.36 in 1| years, a fine com- 
parative record from the&e seven workers of foreign parentage. 

American Parentage 

There are no records from 3rd grade, only one record from 4th 
grade; groups from 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grade record a wage 
near the average with decreasing experience, graduates earning 
$8.00 in 2\ years. This speaks well for the effect of longer school- 
ing on the American wage-earner. 

Summary of Indices Curves According to Grade at Leaving 
School 

The summary curves again show that the high school girl 
requires less experience than the girl leaving the lower grades in 
the grammar school to reach the same wage. This fact is the 
more encouraging, because, by referring back to the figures for 
technical training in the schools, we find only about one-half of 
the girls record such training. With an increased prevalence of 
technical training in the schools, the next generation of workers, 
if they can be kept in the schools an increasing length of time, 
may hope to find their wage increasing, while their experience to 
attain this wage should decrease. 



152 



Wage Worth of School Training 



American Pareniaqe 
Foreign Parentage 
Foreign- Born 



All Nationalities 
Wage Curve — . 
txper.Curve — • 




Chart 22. Nativity and Wage in Dollars compared by means of Wage and 
Experience Indices. 



WAGE AND EXPERIENCE INDICES COMPARED BY 
NATIVITY AND WAGE 

One further grouping of facts may be of interest. The figures 
have been assembled according to the experience required by the 
girls grouped by the ascending dollar wage and presented in 
Chart 22. Those from $1.50 to $4.50 have been grouped 
under one column, and, from there on each increasing dollar of 
wage has a column. 

The wage curve for these different dollar wages naturally 
rises from $1.50 to $17.00. The somewhat irregular line is 
caused by the smaller number at the different points within the 
dollars. Naturally, too, the experience curve of those earning 
from $1.50 to $4.50 is much below the average line, because they 
are the beginners. The drop from the $4.50 column to the $5.00 
column is due to the fact that, in a number of places, the minimum 
wage is $5.00, earned by the girls with the least experience. In 
other places, the record shows girls earning as little as $1.50. 

The rise of the experience curve is steady from its lowest point 
at $5.00 to the first peak at 2.25 above the average line among 
the $9.00 workers. 

The number of records from $10.00 up is too few to give the 
upward curve in experience the significance which its rapid rise 
would indicate; but the rise naturally expresses the greater 
length of time at the present work required of those earning 
above $10.00 per week. 

Fokeign Born 

Comparing the lines for the different nativities, the foreign- 
born worker gives more time to get the wage above $10.00 than 
does the American worker; her record carries her line high above 
the other two nativities. 

Foreign Parentage 

The American-born girl of foreign parentage, for the record 
above $10.00 per week, earns this in the least time at the present 

153 



154 Wage Worth of School Training 

work; so that the girl born in America of foreign parents seems 
able to attain the higher wage in less time than does the foreign- 
born girl or the girl of American parentage. 



American Parentage 

It is between $10.00 and the lowest wage that the American 
girl has the advantage over the other two groups. It is also the 
American girl who remains at this work in the factory less time 
in the long run than the other workers. 



Wage and Experience Indices Compared by Nativity and Wage 155 



Waqe Index ■ Experience InJ 

ttl* ZJS ZOO iTS 1,50 I.ZC 



Normal Aqe 



Overage 



American Parents 
Foreiqn Parents 
Foreicjn- Born 
/■/s 2.00 





Rapid 



Total Aqa <► Grade 



EWAW/AW /WAV AW J 




Total ScriooUProqjres* 



American Parentage 
Foreign Parents 
Foreign-Born 



Chabt 23. Age-Grade and School Progress Groups according to Nativity 
and Indices. 



VI 

AGE -GRADE AND SCHOOL PROGRESS GROUPS 
ACCORDING TO NATIVITY AND INDICES 

A comparison in graphic form in Chart 23 is possible with 
the two school groups, Age-Grade and School Progress, dealing 
this time with the ratios of numbers to wage, numbers to experi- 
ence and wage-experience ratio, which is a resultant of the wage 
ratio to the experience ratio. 

The Normal Group is evenly balanced in both groups, with 
the exception of the jutting out of the foreign workers' experience 
column in the School Progress Group. This, of course, reduces 
the length of the wage-experience-ratio column in the school prog- 
ress division. In other words, the foreign-born worker whose 
progress through school has been normal has not an economic 
value equal to either the American-foreign worker or the entirely- 
American worker of same rate of school progress. The largest 
wage-experience ratio is that of the American worker of normal 
progress through school, closely followed by the American girl of 
normal school age. 

In the Over-age and Slow Groups, there is a close balance be- 
tween the right and left-hand columns. Economic value as 
expressed in wage-experience ratio column is greatest in the 
over-age American-foreign worker. The experience column 
extends a little beyond all others in this group among the over- 
age foreign girls, but the excess of experience required for wage- 
earning in the Over-age Group is not as great as in the Normal 
Group among the foreign-born workers, so that, although the 
foreign-born worker who was an over-age pupil has less economic 
value than American workers of like school record, she is of 
greater economic value than the foreign-born worker of normal 
progress. 

In the Under-age and Rapid Group, we again find the notice- 
able extension of the experience column among the foreign-born 
workers with an under-age school record; also a longer experience 
column among the American-foreign worker of rapid school 
progress than shown by the previous groupings. This graphic 

156 



Age-Grade and School Progress Groups 157 

indication that the Under-age School Group requires longer time 
in industry to bring their wage up to the standard corroborates 
other chartings. This Under-age Group requires the longest 
experience of all the workers to gain the same wage that the 
Normal Group attains. In the Under-age Group among the 
workers of American parentage the economic value or wage- 
experience ratio rises to its next to highest point, followed closely 
by the Rapid Progress Group. 

Wage rises to its highest point in the Normal Age Group 
among the foreign-born. Experience reaches its highest record 
in the Under-age Group, also of foreign birth. 

This ratio of wage to experience brings the economic value of 
the foreign-born worker below either of the other two groups: 
the American of foreign parentage and the American of American 
parentage. 

In economic value, as measured by ratio of wage to experience, 
the highest point is reached in the Normal Progress Group among 
the American parentage workers. 

Wage Earning Capacity 

The coefficients of correlation estimated on the median basis 
are for: 

General Group of 605 

Wage and age 43 

Wage and experience 432 

School History Group of 515 

Wage and age 34 

Wage and experience 38 

Two deductions may be drawn: 

First : That correlation between wage and length of service and 
between wage and age of the worker is less than one-half of per- 
fect correlation, "perfect" meaning equal and parallel increase 
of wage to the correlated item. 

Second : That wage holds much the same mathematical relation- 
ship to length of service as it does to age of the worker; 
naturally so, because the length of service and the age of the 
worker increase concurrently; but it also means that general 
statistics of an entire group are little affected by merging into 
the whole the workers who remain at their work many years 
beyond the median, average, or modal age. That is, the number 
above the average in age, wage and experience received a wage 
too small to counterbalance in a general group average the low 



158 Wage Worth of School Training 

wage of the many who are in the same line of work less than two 
years. 

In other words, in the type of women's work which the factory 
affords, length of service does not mean increased wage-earning; 
in fact, it does mean decreased earnings as years increase. A few 
of these protracted workers did attain to positions of prominence 
with wages that have possibilities of profitable living in them, 
but such positions are few, because they are those of leadership. 

There are not many women who go into this factory field of 
wage-earning who have the quality to make leaders. Compe- 
tition is so great and so selective that it is probable that good 
material such as makes leaders is rarely overlooked. Leaders 
rise out of the mass of workers by their own initiative. The 
quality of leadership is needed by managers of factories and 
encouraged to find its more extended sphere of work. 

Home-Making Requirements 

Potential leaders are lost in the throng of factory workers, but 
probably find their place in other lines of their own selection or in 
the home of their own making, to which they adapt themselves 
with greater satisfaction because of their experience of the routine 
of factory work. This cannot be said so generally of workers in 
the household, or domestics. If their household work period is 
in the homes of the rich where leisure and ease prevail in the daily 
life of their employers, the domestic whose whole life is spent in 
that atmosphere is in danger of being swerved from any desire 
to share the humble life and surroundings of the man with oppor- 
tunities corresponding to hers, and is unfitted to be his helpful 
companion. When such household workers marry mechanics or 
clerks, they are apt to be discontented with the kind of life they 
enter and find little happiness in making the incomes of their 
mates meet all the necessities of their life. They draw compari- 
sons with the life they led in the wealthy homes in which they 
served. In contrast to this, the factory girl who has had money- 
making pressure brought to bear upon her ten hours daily and 
who helps make the necessarily humble home her husband can 
provide finds enough variety and contentment in the routine 
duties of the home of her own making and comfort in the release 
from pressure for increasing production. 

If, through unwise selection of her mate, ignorance or misfor- 
tune, this woman is not successful in her married life and so 



Age-Grade and School Progress Groups 159 

brings about a necessity for returning to wage-earning, she may 
readily rejoin the throng of factory workers; in many instances, 
she does return to her place in the factory and picks up her life 
where she left it, if the interim is brief. The housekeeper is apt 
to lose her speed in the home; the process of manufacture 
has changed during her absence. This all means a period of 
adjustment; hence, her wage, as measured by her production, is 
correspondingly small. In exceptional cases, she is a woman of 
executive ability and then is likely to work up into a forewoman's 
place. By this kind of experience, some of the strongest factory 
women are made. 

A frivolous factory girl who marries does not carry from her 
work to her home-making the discipline of regular work and defi- 
nite responsibility, but rather all the unfavorable features of the 
constant excitement or stimulant of being in a crowd, the possi- 
bilities of extravagance from the independent wage and its per- 
sonal expenditure, and the ease of doing one kind of work con- 
tinuously under definite direction. 

To this factory worker, housekeeping, with its variety of work, 
about which she knows little, is full of failures, disappointments, 
discouragements. Her daily work in her home is beset with 
difficulties: she cannot direct herself; she has no one to steer her 
through failure to success; her mechanical skill which brought 
her a weekly wage in the factory is not applicable to the varied 
manipulative operations of the household and her weekly allow- 
ance for expenses is necessarily smaller than she earned alone. 
Her changed basis of calculations finds her unequal to the work 
of successful adjustment and she returns to her factory job and 
adopts a boarding-house life or a makeshift home largely supplied 
from the nearby delicatessen store. 

Correction of this tendency is a home and school responsibility. 
A good home during childhood tends to impress its methods and 
ideals and establish habits so firmly on the young mind that 
homes made later by them will be on the childhood model. 
School training along mechanical and technical lines and in social 
relations would reinforce and secure these home lessons. Such 
training would help to establish them if the home background is 
lacking; then homes of each succeeding generation would be rea- 
sonably sure of workers equipped to maintain them, whatever 
may be their previous wage-earning experience. 



APPENDIX 



FACTORY VISITS 

Notes from Silk Fibre, Underwear, and Silk Glove 
Factories 

Spool-winding merely requires skill enough to tie a knot and 
to keep the reels at work. When the silk thread breaks, it is tied 
in a weaver's knot, cut with the scissors and the reel restarted. 
A good worker keeps all her reels going. The mediocre skill 
required attracts the mediocre workers, who drift from one opera- 
tion to another. There is little ambition among these workers: 
some are too stupid to learn; others are affected by the noise of 
the machinery, and many develop flat-foot while wearing high- 
heel and other improperly fitted shoes. 

The reeling of spool silk can be learned in a week, employs 
young girls and some boys and men. It requires only ordinary 
ability but demands attention to the work. Reeling silk prepares 
it for being twisted in hanks for dyeing. 

Bobbin winders learn in a week and must simply watch their 
machines, tying the knots in the threads, removing roughnesses 
and starting the machine anew. One girl may tend several wind- 
ing machines. It is all week work. The grade and defects of 
the work are determined later by the machine on which the 
thread is used in further processes. As in all process work, 
cooperation between operations is requisite. 

Webbing-machine tenders or feeders have to stand all day, but 
vary their work of feeding the machine by cleaning it and by 
winding up and taking care of the webbing. They brush the 
lint from the needles and machinery, oil the machine frequently, 
cut off the bundles of webbing when it is of the right size or when 
defects occur. They start the machines and get the machinist 
to repair the breakage. Girls show great differences in caring for 
this work. The machines of some break down much oftener 
than those of others. 

The mending of cotton and silk webbing is an important process. 
It requires about three weeks to learn and is handwork carefully 
done by means of a hooked needle. The repair process renders 

163 



164 Wage Worth of School Training 

the injured material as good as new. This is a superior way to 
renew defective material and should be taught in school to supple- 
ment darning as a repair process. 

Mending of silk hosiery material is a most painstaking process 
and is well paid. The girls are seated comfortably in the best 
light, and work by the week, as no piece work basis is possible. 
It requires good eyes, steady and painstaking application, besides 
ability to be a good hand sewer. Women in this department 
become forewomen in other departments, such is the quality 
required of the worker. The mending is done with a fine-pointed 
needle and when on black material is a considerable strain on 
the eyes. 

Girl cutters are used in cutting knitted underwear, because 
the suits are cut singly and with scissors. The process is varied. 
A 60-yard piece of webbing is first put onto a cylinder which 
requires muscular arm work. This machine winds the webbing 
ready for cutting. Requirements for this work are sufficient 
height to reach over the table and the quick use of the scissors. 
The experienced girl cutter takes the beginner onthe opposite 
side of the table to help spread the material, lay the patterns, 
mark with a pencil and cut along the line. 

Stitching, seaming, and hemming are closely related processes, 
requiring good machine sewing, a light touch and good eye, and 
when applied to silk goods, these operations require more control 
of the material and machine and a lighter touch than with cotton 
material. 

Seaming requires steady sewing and a delicate, quick touch in 
handling material so as not to stretch it, yet give it sufficient full- 
ness. The seams are generally of good length, are sewed flat and 
covered in one process. 

Hand crochet on the edge of knitted underwear is done on the 
special high-class garments. Workers must know how to crochet 
when they apply. Only a few stitches are needed, but the work 
must be done rapidly. Many of these girls come from convents. 
They sit in a group by themselves and chat sociably. 

Machine crochet, which finishes the edge of knitted under- 
wear, can be learned in a few weeks; it requires an eye for 
straight edges and strength in the hands to control the work 
and the machine. 

The neck finishers are young girls who are rapid and patiently 



Appendix 165 

exact handworkers. It is a particular work, being the finishing 
of the edges of the knitted wear. 

Ironing of Italian silk underwear requires quick light motion 
and attention to the work. Electric irons are used and must be 
kept at uniform heat. The ironing boards are placed so that the 
workers can talk to each other. They have freedom to move 
around and are in a light, clean place. 

Packers of finished articles require accuracy and attention to 
numbers on tickets. A knowledge of the stock is necessary to 
see that the material agrees with the tickets. This work is paid 
by the week, as it is dependent upon supply from the other 
departments. Good workers from other departments are often 
shifted to the packing department. 

Boxing and labeling of underwear can be learned in a week; 
requires standing, sitting and moving about, and only ordinary 
ability, sufficient to make correct comparisons. 

When a new machine comes into a factory, a teacher comes 
with it, who instructs the forewoman and one or two others in 
the department; these pass the instructions along to the group. 
Thus little loss of the worker's time is necessitated by instruc- 
tion on a new machine, so gradually does it make its way among 
the workers. 

When girls are transferred from similar action machines in 
other departments or other factories, they learn quickly. 

Learners waste much time and material by wrong positions 
at the machine and often by undue strength until they acquire a 
knack of holding the material and in adjusting themselves to the 
machines. 

The various processes in the making of gloves have each their 
own interest to the worker. The inserting of thumbs is a par- 
ticular operation. One of the best workers at this learned 
dressmaking at the Girls' High School. The closing of seams 
of the gloves, beginning at the forefinger and sewing continu- 
ously to the opposite end of the glove, requires great control 
and a straight eye to keep the seams straight and the sewing near 
the edge. In all high-grade hosiery and glove making, very fine 
eye measurement is needed to turn the sharp corners, to handle 
the bias edges so as not to distort them, to make perfect ad- 
justment between the double pieces, and to turn the corners of 
the short seams accurately. 



166 Wage Worth of School Training 

Speed work is most essential on cheap gloves, on which the 
quick workers are placed. The high tension of this speed work 
is felt by some workers, who ask to be changed to the higher 
grade work. Others are not affected by the speed and are con- 
tented to remain indefinitely at this lower grade work. 

Steaming of gloves is done on a wooden frame moved over 
a jet of live steam. This work does not call for any special 
ability but quick movement to keep from overheating the 
material. Fitting the article on the frame and removing it 
takes much nimbleness of fingers. 

Stock clerks are experienced workers who give out all the bun- 
dles to the operators and earn about $16.00 per week. These 
girls are valuable because of their acquaintance with the work 
and the materials, so their wages advance with their length of 
service. 

In the glove-making factory teachers in each branch of the 
work know the making of the whole glove. The slow learners 
generally prove to be the best workers — probabty due to their 
thoroughness. Slovenly girls seldom make good workers. 
Where fine material is being handled constantly the hands of the 
workers must be kept in good condition. 

In some factories the forewoman does the sample work; she 
teaches the new girls and puts them next to the good workers, 
who introduce them to the ways of the factory as well as to the 
work. 

Girls may do well the first day, run down the second and third 
day, followed by a fourth day of great discouragement, which 
makes a situation for the forewoman to handle skillfully, if the 
worker is to be retained or is worth while retaining. If, at 
this juncture, the girls were allowed to go home without the 
special attention of the forewoman, they probably would not 
return to the factory. 

Training in dressmaking seems to be the best preparation for 
this work. Regular life in the factory improves the health of the 
worker. When a factory is well managed and properly considers 
its help, the workers testify to this by bringing their friends and 
relatives to work. Piecework seems to be the only way to make 
girls progress. The girls want to stay with the one process on 
which they are expert. With it is some variety, such as clipping 
ends of threads, which allows them to sit back in their chairs, and 



Appendix 167 

the getting and returning of bundles of work, counting their work 
and labeling tickets. In slack seasons, in one department, girls 
are shifted to busy departments and often find they like the new 
work better, but there is a tendency to resist change of work 
which has to be made skillfully by the manager of the workroom. 

In a well-managed factory, where the feeling is good among 
the workers, frequently the quick workers will do extra work 
to help the slow workers or those who are sick. 

Frequently, when girls marry and have time to spare at home, 
they return to the factory to get such work as they can do at 
home. This keeps them in touch with their former work and pulls 
them through frequent financial emergencies. 

Notes fkom Curtain and Embroidery Factory 

Many married women who have a few spare hours during the 
day get work from the factory to do at home, such as cutting 
out applique work in curtains, and trimming out scalloping. 
School children help at this work after school hours in the home, 
thus increasing the earnings of the family. The best means 
to remove the exploiting of child labor in the home is to pay 
the men of the family higher wages, and prohibit home labor 
on factory products. 

The curtain and embroidery field is a growing one, and, for 
steadiness of employment, is one to be recommended to women 
workers — being undersupplied with trained operators. Processes 
and operations change gradually, so that the superintendent of 
the factory can train the best workers on any improved machine. 

A successful and well-meaning manager of a factory, in order 
to maintain his working force throughout the year, does not, 
in times of financial stress, reduce the pay of his workers. The 
majority of workers will return in good service this feeling 
of reliance on the management which assures them steady work 
throughout the year and throughout all emergencies. 

One factory manager said he preferred to take girls fresh from 
school between 14 and 16 years of age rather than those who 
had been in other factories. He said that no woman had ever 
given him original ideas about work in the factory; that they 
know nothing about machine mechanism and are helpless when 
anything unusual occurs with the working of a machine. Yet 
he believed, if girls were trained to know about machinery as 



168 Wage Worth of School Training 

boys are, they would make as good mechanics as men. One 
girl was made an adjuster of machines in this factory and gets 
$12.00 per week for lighter repair work. The superintendent 
discovered her ability, not to do just as she was told and no more, 
but to think and act for herself. 

If mechanical direction were given to girls in school, a great 
deal of latent mechanical ability might be developed which would 
make them useful workers on the machine processes of to-day. 
There is always a chance for advancement wherever ability or 
attention to work and to the interest of the employer is displayed 
by the worker. One girl who started as a folder of material 
by the yard worked up to the head of a department in nine years. 

Advertising for help, in the estimation of this superintendent, 
brought only drones and outcasts. He has men on the outside 
constantly looking for good workers, and all of these workers 
he trains himself. He would be delighted to have the schools 
do some of this training and send the prepared worker to him. 
She would then be taken on in the experienced group rather 
than as a learner. The payment basis for those who come with 
experience and those without is an immediate difference of several 
dollars in the weekly wage. 

Out of about 150 girls who have married within 10 years in 
this factory, 85 have made failures of the venture and returned 
to work. These failures open the eyes of the young girls still 
at work and cause them to stay at their $10.00 or $12.00 per 
week job rather than marry so young or at all with the likelihood 
of having to return to work to help support the family. 

Machinery has so lightened the nature of much of the work 
that girls can accomplish the work better than young men, being 
more steady and more careful. 

Boys should be trained for work which only men can do — 
heavy work, shipping, etc. Girls will eventually do the rest. 

When $15.00 a week is the average wage of a working man, 
it is not enough on which to support a family and makes marriage 
impossible. 

Roumanian and other Southern European women make 
splendid workers. They come at 6 a. m., if allowed in the factory 
at that hour, work all day at the machine, have great powers 
of endurance, are independent of their fellow-workers, and 
make good wages; all with the one idea of accumulating their 



Appendix 169 

pile to take back to their native country, where they can then 
take life easily. American women have no like purpose to "keep 
their noses to the grindstone." 

The Roumanian workers learn quickly and work well on artistic 
work, where there is some freedom for the movement of their 
embroidering machines, but they cannot follow a straight line 
well. It is essential to know these characteristics of work and 
workers, particularly in the embroidery line. The choice of 
workers according to what they can best do and the direct 
placing of them at the work fitting their ability saves much time 
and expense for the factory. A certain factory manager found 
this characteristic of the Roumanians so striking that, whenever 
a Roumanian applies for work, she is first put on the free em- 
broidery machine. On the other hand, the dark Italians do 
the straight line embroidery work well, but fail on the freer 
artistic work. The light Italians are good on any kind of work, 
was the verdict of this experienced factory manager. It would 
be valuable to know whether the experience of other managers 
accords at large with this observation. 

Lace mending is a process which employs the best workers 
and pays almost any necessary wage to get such workers. It 
is hand work done in the lightest and cleanest spot in the factory, 
for much depends upon the perfect renewal of the torn mesh. 
Although exacting work for the eyes, it should not be detri- 
mental to young eyes or those adjusted to close work by proper 
glasses. A few fundamental lace stitches taught in the schools 
until facility is gained in making them — a matter of but a few 
weeks to those who are good sewers — would enable a girl to be- 
come a lace-mender at $10.00 a week with an all-year-round 
position. If she knew about the different kinds of laces, some- 
thing of their historic interest, the national characteristics of 
the different laces, her interest in her work would be enhanced 
and she herself could extend her interest by study of the lace 
departments of museums. 

Stencilling designs and transferring patterns is a large depart- 
ment in a lace factory, chiefly in charge of men. There is no 
reason why women should not do this work as well as men 
were they prepared by the school with a sufficient degree of 
expertness to give them confidence to apply for such positions. 

Training for accuracy and habits of industry, with the feeling 
of responsibility for the work and position undertaken, seem 



170 Wage Worth of School Training 

to be the desired essentials in all factory work. Facility in han- 
dling pieces of material which must be joined without the neces- 
sity of basting is also an essential requirement of workers. 
For instance, a pantograph operator, who gets $10.00 a week to 
guide a lever which traces a pattern for duplication many times 
over on repeating machines, needs this absolute accuracy to make 
her work worth while. The following of the pattern on a curtain 
is a difficult matter, because of the maze in which the lines of 
the pattern arrange themselves, out of which the worker must 
successfully find her way with her tracer. The attention of 
the worker must be unfalteringly on the work. 

The sample makers of embroideries and other white goods 
articles are the picked workers and are paid by the week. At 
this select work, the German women seem to be best, because 
"they seem to be more for work" than most other nationalities. 
They get about $12.00 per week throughout the year and make 
samples which the salesmen use in bringing in orders for supply- 
ing the factory with work. This sample work has the advantage 
of being constantly different, but requires special ability to turn 
out representative work. 

Machine embroidering pays from $9.00 to $15.00 per week 
piecework, requiring from three weeks to three months to learn 
how to handle the embroidery machines. Foreigners seem to 
take to this work better than Americans, are more steady at 
the work, and acquire it more quickly. The pattern is stitched 
on the cloth over stiff paper to keep the linen flat and the machine 
is simply guided to follow this pattern. 

Ironers of embroidered work get from $9.00 to $10.00 per 
week piecework. Ironing can be learned in about three months; 
requires great physical strength to stand long hours and endu- 
rance of heat and steam, as well as strength to press the iron. 
Only foreign women are able to endure this work. In summer, 
the heat and steam are great, but this is due to faulty methods 
of ventilation. The irons commonly have gas in them with 
a blow-pipe arrangement to intensify the heat. Embroidering 
puckers the material and needs careful ironing to smooth it 
out and prevent scorching. 

Folding embroideries and winding them on cards gets about 
$9.00 per week and requires about a week to learn it. Americans 
are employed. The ability needed is speed, straight eye, and 



Appendix 171 

a light touch. The girls start at $5.00 per week and in about 
seven weeks earn $9.00, which is the limit. The embroidery- 
is folded over a card, slipped into a groove, fastened on an axis, 
the treadle is pressed and the card, revolving, winds up the 
material. It is then passed on to the ironers, who press the 
outside surface. These finishing ironers get $12.00 per week. 

The packers are young girls, who learn the work in a few days. 
It requires speed and strength to stand all day but is quiet work. 
The girls stand beside each other, so that talking is possible. 
Packing pays from $7.00 to $9.00 per week. 

Examining in some factories is a more important work than 
in others. In the embroidery line, there is less precision de- 
manded and the article is examined only just before it is packed. 
Where there are many machine processes on one article, each 
stage has its examiner to prevent defects from occurring and 
spoiling an expensive article. 

Cutting is men's work. It requires strength and straight eye 
and steady muscle direction. The pay is from $12.00 to $15.00 
per week. It can be learned in about a month. The old process 
of cutting with a knife made heavy callous spots on the hands. 
The earnings used to be $18.00 per week. Now the revolving 
electric circular and the guillotine knives, which run on a broad 
base, have simplified the work. Boys used to be hired to lay 
out the material on tables in folds preparatory to the cutting. 
Now one man and a folding machine can do the work of four 
boys. The folding-machine operator gets $8.00 a week, the 
boys got $6.00 per week. The old knife process of cutting by 
hand is now used on small, odd jobs. 

Bandmakers on aprons get about $10.00 per week; require 
accuracy, deftness and a light touch. The work is the hand- 
turning of folds, sewing in the apron and apron strings. 

Another operation is now being tried out, of fitting the band 
material into a funnel, which folds it and puts the apron into 
the band with one process. One girl can make from 200 to 
250 dozen daily. 

Notes from a Cotton Factory 

The raw cotton goes through a cleansing machine, is then 
sucked under ground into a picking-room where, after a series 
of combings, it is made into slivers. Only men are employed in 



172 Wage Worth of School Training 

this room. They have to tend to the machinery, and there is 
some lint in the air in spite of hoods. 

The inspectors of skeins are mostly American girls. They 
can be well dressed at their work and work apart from others. 
There is a strong class feeling among girls. Men mix better. 
They have politics in common. 

American women do chiefly the high-class work in the mills, 
inspecting, and office work. They have risen from grade to grade 
as foreigners have come in to take the less complex work. Irish, 
English, French and Portuguese in turn have supplanted Amer- 
icans. 

At the warping operation, girls are seated on stools to watch 
the thread's thick parts which they cut out, retying the cut 
ends with a weaver's knot. This work depends on the quality 
of work done by the spool tenders and in its turn determines 
the grade of yarn sent out by the mill. These workers get 
paid by the week, according to their length of service and 
quality of their work. They like the alternation of sitting, 
standing and moving about, while all the heavy work is done 
by men, such as lifting out the warping beam when full. There 
is plenty of room between warping machines for aisles, but 
workers can talk to each other; each keeps her own place clean 
while men keep the aisles clean. 

One of the workers interviewed had been a milliner, but her 
work was not steady, and so she came to the mill and became 
examiner of skeins. This being too sedentary, the work did 
not agree with her, and she was put on the warping machine 
which gave her the needed change of position. Her former 
millinery art is used in making hats for her family and her asso- 
ciates at the mill. Most of her friends are teachers. Another 
warper was an English woman who had always worked in a 
mill before she married. Her husband, likewise a mill employe, 
did not have work as steady as hers so she returned to her place 
in the mill and now banks her money with her husband's. Eng- 
lish men rather want their wives to work. They rely on them 
and spend many of their evenings in the "grog shop." French 
men let their wives work only until they have made together a 
comfortable home. 

Some women, who apparently move slowly at their work, 
accomplish most because every move counts. The quick- 



Appendix 173 

motioned girl often averages low. Many of the French are of 
the latter type. One of the best qualities in these workers 
is obedience, following instructions from one who has experience, 
not questioning or trying some other way. While learning, no 
pay is given. The work done by the learner goes to the credit 
of the one doing the teaching. When the learner is able to be 
independent of the teacher, the pay is then regulated not accord- 
ing to the output but by the week. The amount of acccom- 
plishment is known by the overseer. 

One manager thought that the cadet practice and military 
discipline he got in the high school did more good for him as 
a business man than anything else. It taught him to obey orders 
and, knowing how to obey, he later knew how to command — 
an observation more applicable to older methods of management 
than those accepted to-day as progressive. 

One superintendent thought the mill was no place for women. 
The stretch over the looms to tie threads is injurious. Handling 
the shuttles which men have handled may give them contagion, 
which they in turn carry home to their families. According to 
this superintendent, girls who work in factories before they 
are married, return after marriage for the money and for com- 
panionship; their homes are uninteresting to them. 

Operatives have cause to suspect managers' acts and motives 
because of the long line of impositions practiced, such as setting 
back clocks, and taking advantage of help in small, mean ways, 
as well as exploiting their labor. More humane treatment now 
prevails but the tradition of the imposition remains in the minds 
of the workers, and will remain until much more evidence of 
managers' wisdom is manifested. 



HELPFUL BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Industrial Democracy. Sidney and Beatrice Webb. Longmans, Green & 

Co., 1902. 
Fatigue and Efficiency. Josephine Goldmark. Survey Associates, Inc., 1913. 
Increasing Human Efficiency in Business. Walter Dill Scott. Macmillan 

Co., 1912. 
Report on Condition of Women and Child Wage-Earners in the United States. 

Senate Documents, No. 645, Vol. I, V, VII, LX. 
Saleswomen in Mercantile Stores. Elizabeth Butler. Russell Sage Founda- 
tion Publications. 
Women and the Trades. Elizabeth Butler. Russell Sage Foundation 

Publications. 
Artificial Flower Makers. Mary Van Kleeck. Survey Associates, Inc., 1914. 
Women in the Bookbinding Trade. Mary Van Kleeck. Survey Associates. 

Inc., 1913. 
Vocations for Girls. Mary A. Laselle and Katherine E. Wiley. Houghton, 

Mifflin & Co., 1913. 
Laggards in Our Schools. Leonard P. Ayres. Charities Publication Co., 

1909. 
Industrial Cooperation. Catherine Webb. Cooperative Union, Ltd., 1910. 
Psychology and Industrial Efficiency. Hugo Mtinsterberg. Houghton, 

Mifflin & Co., 1913. 
The New Industrial Day. William C. Redfield. The Century Co., 1912. 
The Wage-Earner. John Mitchell. P. S. Risdale, Washington, D. C, 1913. 
Unemployment. William Henry Beveridge. Longmans, Green & Co., 1910. 
The New Democracy. Walter E. Weyl. The Macmillan Co., 1912. 



